Ruthless-Empire homicide: Mother of slain toddler to make ‘new statement’, family says

The mother of slain toddler Ruthless-Empire has told whānau she’s going to make a “new statement”, after a police appeal for information.

On October 22, up to 12 hours after suffering severe injuries to his head, Ruthless-Empire Souljah Reign Rhind Shephard Wall arrived at Hutt Hospital. He was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.

The toddler, known as Ru, was living at a home in the Lower Hutt suburb of Taitā with his mother Storm Wall, Rosie Morunga and her partner Dylan Ross.

On Friday, Detective Nick Pritchard asked at a press conference for sightings of a car used to take Ru to hospital.

The car is a grey-green sedan with the number plate TE6972.

Police investigating the death of Baby Ru are seeking sightings of this vehicle on October 22, the day he was taken to Hutt Hospital. Photo / NZ Police

Pritchard said police were continuing to engage with three people of interest, all of whom were in the car at the time it was driven to hospital.

The car then returned to the address where they lived and items related to the investigation were removed, he said.

Ru’s great-aunt, Sarah Reremoana, told the Herald she watched Pritchard’s press conference on her phone and had watched it about 15 times since.

“Just to be told once there was a blunt force trauma and then now to know that baby had suffered many blows to the head with the examples of being hit into a table or the example of being pushed to the floor. It’s just really hard.

“It’s really disheartening to us as a family.”

She said Wall had told the whānau after the press conference that she wanted to speak to police again.

“[She said] That she is going to make a new statement to New Zealand Police,” Reremoana said.

The family then called a police officer they had been dealing with, who was arranging for police to come and see Wall again “very shortly”.

Detective Inspector Nick Pritchard said police were seeking sightings of the sedan on the day Ru died. Photo / Mark Mitchell

After hearing mentions of the concealed items, Reremoana recalled officers asking her during her interview about a piece of fabric roughly 30cm long.

“They were just asking whether I knew, say, like a 30cm ruler, a piece of fabric. They wouldn’t describe the fabric but it was a fabric they were interested in.”

Pritchard said today that police were looking for CCTV footage to track the movements of the car and were seeking sightings of it anywhere between metropolitan Wellington and the Hutt Valley between the morning of October 22 and the middle of the afternoon on October 24.

Police have now seized and examined the vehicle.

They were in constant communication with the three people of interest, who were providing varying levels of co-operation, Pritchard said.

“I cannot say what their motives are for not giving us the full story.

“There has been progress, we have been interacting with them and others to build a picture of what happened that morning.”

Ruthless-Empire, who was almost 2, died in hospital from serious head injuries on October 22.

He said police were now 20 days into their investigation and “remain committed to finding justice for baby Ru”.

“This poor child suffered a violent death.”

All his injuries were to his head. “Our belief is that these were intentionally caused injuries to this child.”

Police believe the injuries were sustained on the morning of October 22, although they could have been sustained up to 12 hours before his death.

When asked if drugs were found at the address, Pritchard said he could not comment on what was found.

Wall earlier claimed in an interview with the Herald that, on the evening of October 21, one of the people in the house told her to go to bed and that they would look after Ru.

About 10pm, he was put into her bed. Wall said he “looked normal”.

“I just gave him a last hug, just checking he’s all right.”

When she woke the next morning, he was “drowsy”. “I thought he was tired.”

She was getting ready to visit a cousin when she heard noises in the house. She claimed she was then told Ru was choking.

She tried doing first aid, “to see if he could get any form of phlegm or anything out and therefore he was getting his grasp of breath”.

She then took him to hospital.

Asked whether she had any part in her son’s death, she replied: “No, I didn’t.

“I just want justice for my son ... I want justice for my Ru Ru.”

Sam Sherwood is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers crime. He is a senior journalist who joined the Herald in 2022, and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.