Baby Ru death: New crime scene details emerge
Tuesday, 22 October 2024
Warning: This story contains details that some readers may find upsetting.
One year after toddler Ruthless Empire Ahipene-Wall was killed, new details have emerged about the movements of three people at the centre of the police investigation during a crucial window of time.
The Post can reveal CCTV footage captured by a neighbour has apparently documented what police allege was a calculated effort by the trio to “clean and alter the crime scene”. To date, no arrests have been made.
Police maintain there were only three people in the house in suburban Taitā when Ru sustained his fatal injuries. They are understood to be Rosie Morunga, her partner Dylan Ross, and Ru’s mother, Storm Wall.
Wall had only been living with Morunga and Ross at the Poole St address for a couple of weeks before Ru’s death.
The actions of Wall, Morunga and Ross in the hours after Ru’s injuries were supposedly captured on a home security camera that a neighbour had set up because of their alleged anti-social behaviour.
“I wouldn’t have even had the cameras if they weren’t so f…ing crazy,” the neighbour told The Post.
Witness describes hours after Ru’s death
Shortly after 10am on October 22, 2023, Ru arrived at Hutt Hospital with a broken skull, having suffered blunt-force trauma to his head.
By 12.30pm, Ru had been declared dead and in the days that followed a homicide investigation was launched.
Speaking exclusively to The Post, a neighbour ‒ who asked not to be named ‒ said he heard “screaming” coming from the property shortly before 10am on the day of Ru’s death.
“I know the timings because me and my mate were ordering Uber Eats from the McDonald’s breakfast menu … so I have the receipt and everything, which I’ve given to the cops.
“As usual, we heard screaming coming from Rosie and Dylan’s place. They didn’t sound particularly worried or anything, but it was just all of them going ‘aaaaah’.”
The trio then drove off left towards the hospital, he said.
Occupants of the house then left and came back three times, the neighbour said.
“That second time ‒ [one of the occupants, who cannot be named for legal reasons] came out with a whole f…ing monitor … [their] arms were full of stuff.”
But it wasn’t until later that evening the neighbour realised something was really wrong.
“I’d been locked in playing games, but another mate rocked up and said there were like 12 cop cars outside so I opened the curtains.
“Cops were blocking off the house and stuff, so we walked outside and asked them what was going on, and they said there’d been a death.”
The neighbour then realised how significant his home CCTV system could be.
“I got it all on CCTV ‒ the video police have is the video that was taken from outside my room. I gave them the whole 24-hour video.”
The neighbour had only seen Ru “a couple of times”, but said he was “always smiling”.
“You’d hear him crying and all that, but I didn’t see much of him. I saw him one time on his little bike with Storm going down to the shops.
“Another time he was riding the bike and he went into the fence and Rosie was screaming like: ‘Storm, get your kid, f… this’.”
‘Critical’ missing evidence still missing
In the weeks and months following Ru’s death, police repeatedly appealed for sightings of a grey-green 1994 Nissan Sentra with the registration TE6972 from the morning of Sunday, October 22, through to the afternoon of Tuesday, October 24.
They believe the Nissan travelled to and from the Poole St address three times in the hours after Ru was taken to hospital and was used to dispose of “items of interest”.
Police have since appealed for sightings of a swatch of duvet cover, a power back-up unit and a hard drive, which investigators believe contains CCTV footage from the time Ru suffered the fatal injuries to his head.
Speaking in line with the anniversary of Ru’s death, lead investigator Detective Inspector Nick Pritchard said police continue to allege that someone “deliberately altered the crime scene” before officers arrived.
Pritchard added that any attempt to change the crime scene “added weight to the fact that parties involved here tried to cover this up from the beginning”.
Whether any charges would be considered in relation to the disposing of evidence was “certainly a live issue”, Pritchard said.
“Like the homicide, any offending that we detect or identify during the investigation, is carefully scrutinised. We're reviewing and applying the test for prosecution so that when the time comes, we will hold anyone to account who is responsible for any of these crimes.”
Three ‘persons of interest’ remain
The “persons of interest” in the investigation remain so 12 months on, Pritchard told The Post.
“Our position is that all three have information to provide that will help advance the investigation. They will remain persons of interest until such time as we can eliminate any of them.”
Investigators believe “one or more” people were involved in injuring Ru and that all three adults who were in the house at the time know what happened to him.
Since Ru’s death, Wall has spoken to the media and posted on social media with her account of what happened on the morning of October 22 ‒ each time denying involvement ‒ but Pritchard said there were “some inconsistencies” in what police had been told. Neither Morunga nor Wall have commented.
Explanations of what happened from the three “persons of interest” had also changed in the days after Ru’s death, when the post-mortem examination results came back.
“We have three adults in a house, a young child suffers serious head injuries, he's taken to hospital and it's not until a post mortem examination in the days following when cause of death is established that things change and explanations change,” Pritchard said.
“So, certainly from the evidence we've gathered there’s an attempt to conceal this crime from the beginning.”
‘No stone is being left unturned’
For Pritchard, his hope one year on was that “those involved to do the right thing by the whānau of young Ru and tell us what happened that day”.
“When you take a step back and look in, it’s horrific that an adult could inflict this type of injury on a young, defenceless child. All I can say is come forward and do the right thing.”
What caused the blunt-force trauma to Ru’s head remains a mystery, with police previously saying they believe it was either inflicted by a weapon, or by slamming his skull against a hard floor or table.
“Whatever has happened to Ru, such force has been used that has caused a skull fracture and then subsequent death,” Pritchard said.
While neither contributed to his death, Ru had wet wipes in his mouth and a “piece of fabric” tied in a knot around his neck when he arrived at hospital.
Last week, Pritchard said officers still did not know why the piece of fabric was around Ru’s neck.
“We really urge anyone with any information, including the three persons of interest, to come forward and talk to us.
“This is a child homicide. It's not a case that will simply be put on a shelf. It will keep going until such time as it's resolved.”
Pritchard said he was “confident” the case would be solved, “but it may take some time”.
“Every case is different, every case has different levels of challenges and complexities. But it takes as long as it takes. The most important thing is we have a really dedicated team striving for that outcome.”
The team investigating Ru’s death consists of six staff working full-time, who were “meticulously working through a large volume of material”.
“The team is highly dedicated, highly focused […] Every lead is being followed up. No stone is being left unturned.”
Pritchard wouldn’t be drawn on whether offers of immunity or rewards were on the table. He wasn’t thinking “too far ahead” with two months left in the year and a “lot of work still to do”.
‘Emotional, challenging time’
Although Ru had no registered name at the time of his death, his name was posthumously registered as Nga Reo Te Huatahi Reremoana Ahipene-Wall.
Pritchard continued to appeal for anybody who has information about what happened to Ru to come forward “no matter how small or insignificant they think that is”.
“I’d just like to again acknowledge the whānau of Baby Ru. This would be an emotional, challenging time for them,” he said.
Anyone with information that could help the investigation team is urged to contact police quoting file number 231022/1708. Information can also be passed to Crime Stoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.