At least four agencies involved with Baby Ru’s family before death
Wednesday, 1 November 2023
At least four government agencies were aware of issues with the family of Ruthless-Empire – the toddler who died from injuries in a house he was sharing with three family members.
The child, known as Ru, was killed by blunt force trauma just shy of his second birthday, police say. He had been staying at a house in Poole St, Taita, Lower Hutt.
Police are treating the case as a homicide. They believe the injuries that led to his death were intentional and happened about 12 hours before he was taken to hospital on the morning of October 22.
It is understood one blood relative, believed to be his mother, Storm Angel Wall, and two members of his wider whānau — Rosie, who has posted on social media of having a child uplifted, and her partner, Dylan — were the only other people in the house.
Detective Inspector Nick Pritchard on Tuesday confirmed no arrest had yet been made.
He would not say if the family were cooperating with investigators, but said police were “actively engaging” with the family and were still working to “establish the background” of what led to Ru’s death. He could not say when arrests or charges were expected or why none had yet happened.
Retired coroner Garry Evans led an inquiry into the 2006 deaths of baby twins Chris and Cru Kahui. The case was notable for the family closing ranks and not co-operating with authorities.
He could not talk about similarities to this case, but pointed to issues with underpaid, overworked social workers at child protection agency Oranga Tamariki (OT), leading to high staff turnover.
He was “disheartened” by the continued high number of of violent child and baby deaths that put New Zealand among the worst in the world.
While police refuse to say how many calls they had received about the Poole St house since January, when Rosie and Dylan moved in, a neighbour said he had called police about 15 times and Kāinga Ora about 30 times.
He saw Ruthless-Empire riding his bike in the driveway about a week before his death.
The neighbour said he warned the toddler’s mother to “get the hell out because [the house’s occupant] is not good”.
Kāinga Ora would not say how many complaints it had received about the house, nor the nature of the complaints.
OT chief executive Chappie Te Kani said Ru was not in its custody or care, but the agency was “actively working alongside our partner agencies to piece together what, if any, support Baby Ru and his whānau were receiving at the time of his death, and if interventions could have occurred”.
OT was working alongside police with their investigation, Te Kani said.
The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) was also engaging with the family. It was this week revealed that Ru died without a registered name or birth.
DIA asks this be done within two months of a birth and births, deaths and marriages registrar-general Russell Burnard said the department worked with whānau when there had been delays.
It refused to reveal what attempts had been made to register Ru’s birth.
Hutt mayor Campbell Barry said the case had sent “shock waves” through the region and it was important police had space and time to investigate.
“We all need to understand exactly what has happened here and what has failed,” he said.
818 unnamed New Zealand babies
The Department of Internal Affairs knows of more than New Zealand 800 babies six months or older with no registered name.
Following news that Ruthless-Empire, or Ru, died in Lower Hutt with no registered name just before his 2nd birthday, births, deaths, and marriages registrar-general Russell Burnard has released the figures.
They show there are 818 babies, born between January 1 and April 30, who don’t have a registered name.
There were a number of reasons, ranging from errors to parents not submitting a notification, but DIA also declines some names such as those that could cause offence, are an unreasonable length or designate an official title or rank.
DIA releases its list of rejected names each year. Names including King, Saint, and Empress-Jade were rejected in 2022. However, the name Ruthless-Empire does not appear on lists for 2021 or 2022.