Three people of interest; no arrests: Baby Ru homicide investigation scaled back

Sunday, 4 February 2024

More than three months after a toddler was killed in Lower Hutt, police have scaled back their investigation into his murder.

Despite no arrests, there are three people of interest - who police have previously said know what happened to Baby Ru. But the number of staff working on the case has been cut.

And, although a police spokesperson says that’s due “to the number of enquiries decreasing as progress is made”, the detective overseeing the investigation has again appealed to the public for help.

“Every piece of information, no matter how small, is valuable…”, said Detective Inspector Nick Pritchard on Friday.

Pritchard has repeatedly refused to be interviewed about the killing of Ru, who was nearly two when he died. He oversees the investigating team, which was reduced when the investigation passed the three-month threshold.

Initially, a police spokesperson said they weren’t able to provide the specific number of staff working on the case but, when asked why not, confirmed there are six.

“However, depending on the nature and number of enquiries, there are times when we bring in additional staff to assist.”

Pritchard is one of three field crime managers who oversee homicides and other serious criminal investigations in Wellington.

There are four active homicide investigations in the region, including Ru’s.

Police won’t say how many staff have previously been involved in investigating the case, just that the number of people working it had decreased, nor whether any of the items - described as “critical evidence” in a December appeal - have been found.

But in Friday’s statement Pritchard said his team remained “absolutely committed to getting justice for Baby Ru and holding the person or persons responsible to account”.

“As we have stated previously, three adults known to Ru are considered persons of interest … we are continuing to engage with them, in an effort to establish exactly what took place at the Lower Hutt property prior to Baby Ru’s death, and in the days following…”

Those adults are believed to be Rosie Morunga, Dylan Ross and Ru’s mother Storm Wall, a trio to whom Pritchard has previously appealed for the truth.

In November, more than a month after Ru’s death, he said police were receiving different levels of cooperation from them.

“We are engaging and trying our best to get them to talk to us…New Zealand law as it stands means people do have a right to silence, so we can’t force people to talk to us… it is frustrating.”

On Friday, when asked about the degree of engagement and/or cooperation police were receiving, a spokesperson replied: “We can say that there have been varying levels of engagement.”

Ru, who was posthumously named Reo Te Huatahi Reremoana Ahipene-Wall, died on October 22 in Taitā, having suffered blunt forces injuries to his head.

Three weeks previously he and his mother had moved into the Lower Hutt property where Morunga and Ross had been living since January.

In the days following his death, accusations and denials were aired by both Morunga and Wall, either on social media or through spokespeople.

Through Ru’s uncle, Ngatanahira Reremoana, Wall has offered conflicting accounts as to what happened on the night police initially believed Ru was injured.

Reremoana has relayed three different versions from Wall. In them, she’s either put Ru to bed herself, Morunga tells her to go to bed while she takes care of Ru, or that Ru was put into his mother’s bed.

Morunga, meanwhile, wrote on social media: 'We never were babysitting. His mother was there. We brought them back from abuse.'

Wall’s initial explanation that Ru died by choking on baby wipes, or his breakfast, were discredited by Pritchard when, four days later, he announced the child’s initially unexplained death was a homicide investigation.

Ru had died in a level of violence “difficult to fathom”, he said at the time.

“He was an innocent child who should have been safe and loved and should not have died as he did.”

Later, police appealed for sightings of a car and items - “critical evidence” - in relation to Ru’s death.

The latter included a digital video recorder and a back-up power supply that Pritchard said were believed to have been deliberately removed from the Poole St property and either concealed or disposed.

“Attempts have been made to clean and alter the crime scene before police arrived.”

Also sought was information about a piece of fabric tied around Ru’s neck, something Pritchard said had not been a direct cause of his death but was incredibly concerning.

“We appeal for information from anyone who has seen this item or what it was used for.”

And again, that trio of interest; that mention of cooperation; that matter of account.

“The co-operation of our three people of interest is vital to us understanding the truth of what happened to Baby Ru, and ultimately holding those responsible to account.”

Then, the police went silence.

Since that appeal on December 4, there has been no new information, nor progress on the case made public.

This week, a few days before their renewed appeal, a police media spokesperson said forensic testing was still ongoing, and enquiries were being carried out nationally.

A few hours after the appeal, another media spokesperson said Pritchard may be able to talk to reporters on Monday.

Until then, here’s what he said when this reporter got to ask whether he was confident someone would be charged for Ru’s murder:

“That’s hard to say. We’re definitely working towards it, that's our goal to hold people to account. Ultimately, down the track, when we look at everything, that's the goal - to prosecute.

“We're not losing focus of the end result which is to bring someone to justice for this crime.”

That was in November. Ru had been dead more than a month.