The glorification of Melbourne’s Gangland War by the TV Show Underbelly was put into perspective yesterday with the tragic image of Carl Williams’s daughter, seven-year-old Dhakota, sucking on a dummy at her grandmother's funeral.
Dhakota, whose dad Carl is serving 35 years in a Victorian prison for his involvement in four murders, stuck close to her mum, Roberta, during the service for Barbra Williams, who committed suicide via a lethal dosage of drugs.
Gangland funerals were common place during the heyday of the Melbourne crime reign – with the coffins of murdered crime lords splashed across national newspapers.
Now, in the aftermath of the wars, the funeral of Williams and the image of her pacified granddaughter, paints a picture of the confusing and traumatising environment of the underworld.
But child psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg says that her reaction to her death is unique, but not concerning.
"Have I encountered seven-year-olds sucking on dummies before? No,” Carr-Gregg told News Limited.
"But I have also never encountered the granddaughter of a criminal family at the funeral of its matriarch mother?"
"If it works for her and reduces her anxiety then don't make a big deal of it."