Baby who was killed by blunt force injuries died without an official name

The toddler at the centre of a homicide died without an official name.

Despite being known by whānau as Ruthless-Empire Souljah-Reign Rhind Shepherd Wall, Stuff understands the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) rejected the name and was working with the family to find a suitable alternative when he was killed.

‘Baby Ru’ was killed by blunt force trauma and will be farewelled at a tangi in Taupō on Saturday as police continue to investigate three people of interest, including his mother.

He died just shy of his second birthday, after he was taken to Hutt Hospital in Wellington at 10.30am on Sunday in an unresponsive state. He had several injuries and bruising and efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.

On Friday afternoon, DIA registrar-general of births, deaths and marriages Russell Burnard said Baby Ru’s birth had not been registered.

He said that was not “particularly unusual” with around 1000 out of 60,000 births each year taking longer to register.

“Registering a birth in New Zealand is a legal requirement, and we encourage that this is done within two months. However, there can be numerous reasons why people do not register births within that time frame. Where we are aware of delays in birth registration, we work with whānau to remove any barriers they may have to complete registration.”

On Thursday, Detective Inspector Nick Pritchard said Ru’s injuries were not accidental. He said three people were considered persons of interest, one was a blood relative and two were extended whānau members.

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

”This level of violence towards a child is difficult to fathom.”

Stuff understands the three people include Ru’s mother, Storm Angel Wall, a female relative and a male who is not believed to be the child’s father.

All three were living at the Poole St house in Lower Hutt that police combed over on Tuesday, at the time of Ru’s death. Police said Wall had only been living there for a few weeks. According to her Facebook page, she had previously been living in Hamilton.

In a Facebook post in July, Wall said she had previously “f***** up” with a child.

”I also lost my second child due to domestic violence via January 2023, and I can admit I wasn’t the best mother figure, and it took me six months to realise, but now I’m fully there and making that change”.

Wall said she had “been through too much domestic violence, gang violence and all”.

Pritchard said the three persons of interest were known to the police who were now looking into the history of the whānau, including working with Oranga Tamariki to see if there had been any other instances of violence.

Whānau declined to speak today and asked for time to mourn, ahead of Ru’s tangi.

Stuff understands Ru’s birth father lives in Dunedin.

Post-mortem findings appear to contradict mother Storm Angel Wall’s version of events as they show Ru was injured at around 10.30pm on Saturday night.

However, on a social media post on Monday, Wall said Ru had “recently passed away” due to him being “non-responsive due to him choking on his breakfast”.

“And clogs came out. I have tried with all will and power to respond to all helps (sic) to act for him but he is resting now in Wellington.”

Uncle Ngatanahira Reremoana posted on Facebook on Tuesday that “it’s just happening too fast and Uncle is only just catching up on reality”.

“We as a whānau have a long few days ahead of us as we mourn our loss of this beautiful Souljah. I have the deepest regrets not being with you when we stopped in on our way home from up north. That was the last time Uncle had seen the smile on your face”.

“I’m sorry Uncle couldn’t save you but we tried. We done all we can. You’re now in a better place and mama will be looked after”.

On Wednesday night, the family told Stuff that baby wipes were found in Ruthless-Empire’s mouth. On the same evening Wall, who had only been living at the house for a few weeks, posted on Facebook that her son had been murdered.

“And names aren’t going there via public cos whānau want me to avenge, want me to be mad, want me to do so much.”

She said whānau had been accusing her of killing her son, and she had received death threats, but they didn’t know the true story.

“My son was everything to me and y’all already knew my son was murdered.”

“I am broken of all brokens. I’ve cried more than any soul could cry so know my status from now.”