Nearly four weeks on, crucial evidence remains missing in Baby Ru homicide
Saturday, 18 November 2023
Nearly four weeks since the death of Ruthless-Empire Ahipene-Wall police are yet to make any arrests as crucial evidence remains missing.
Police confirmed yesterday that a hard drive for a security camera, missing from the Lower Hutt house where Ruthless-Empire, also known as Baby Ru, suffered fatal injuries, was still missing.
The footage could be key to shedding light on the hours before Ru was taken to hospital, on the morning of October 22, and what happened afterwards. Police have said not only was the hard drive missing from the Taitā home, but investigators believed a Nissan Sentra removed evidence from the scene.
Five homes had been searched, but police have been tight-lipped on what they found, and what items are missing.
Ru arrived at Hutt Hospital - taken there by three family members who are persons of interest in the case - in an unresponsive state with signs of severe head injuries.
He was just days away from his second birthday.
The weeks since his death have been marked by prolific social media posts by members of his wider whānau, who have made various claims about how he died, with posts descending into slanging matches filled with accusations and abuse.
They also paid tribute to him as a happy and bubbly boy, and family were devastated by his death.
While police have said Ru may have been injured in the 12 hours prior to his death, Detective Inspector Nick Pritchard has also said police believe his fatal injuries were inflicted the morning he was taken to hospital.
Three people of interest in the case, Rosie Morunga, her partner Dylan Ross and Ru’s mother Storm Angel Wall, are understood to have been living at the Poole St address where Ru was injured. Ross and Morunga were extended family.
Police have previously said they had received “varying levels of cooperation and engagement” from the trio.
A neighbour previously described that household as a “nightmare”, ever since the new tenants moved into the Kāinga Ora property in January.
The neighbour said he had heard yelling and screaming from the property earlier on the morning of October 22 before his neighbours appeared to jump into a car, “screeching away” down the road.
At a press conference a week ago, Detective Inspector Pritchard appealed for sightings of a light-coloured Nissan Sentra – with the licence plate TE6972 – between the morning of October 22 and afternoon of October 24 across the Wellington region.
He said all of Ru’s injuries were to his head and could have been caused by a weapon, or by a person slamming Ru’s head on furniture or the floor.
Police had been working with Oranga Tamariki. A welfare check made by Waikato Police on Ru in July had turned up nothing adverse.