Police this afternoon announced a homicide investigation has been launched over what had been labelled an “unexplained” death of a toddler in Lower Hutt this week.
Ruthless-Empire died in Hutt Hospital on Sunday after being transported there in an unresponsive state from a property in Taitā.
Yesterday would have been his second birthday.
Yesterday would have been Ruthless-Empire's second birthday. (Source: 1News)
Police today said the infant died of “blunt force trauma”.
Three people known to him are considered people of interest. The three being spoken to by police are not in custody.
"One is a blood relative and the others are wider whānau," Detective Inspector Nick Pritchard said. He added the family involved was known to police.
He said the level of violence involved was "difficult to fathom", and he died hours before he was taken to hospital.
"Whānau had been preparing to celebrate his birthday. He was the innocent child who should have been safe and loved and should not have died as he did.
"Post-mortem results confirmed Baby Ru’s cause of death was from blunt force trauma."
Pritchard clarified reports of wet wipes playing a role in his death.
"Post-mortem confirmed that this did not contribute to his death – it was the injuries he sustained that did.
"Police have no direct evidence that Ru ingested wet wipes. Some discarded wet wipes were found at the scene so I can't confirm whether he has ingested any or not but they were not a contributor to his death."
Baby Ru had been staying at a Taitā address only "a matter of weeks" before his death.
Earlier this week, a spokesperson for the family paid tribute to their "happy and bubbly baby Ru".
“Ruthless-Empire had a happy and bubbly personality, He would always brighten up any room with his bright smile," they wrote.
"Our whānau are all devastated from this news, we received this news whilst our church bells were ringing on Sunday 10.55am, that our Baby Ru had grown his wings and headed home to Torona o Ihoa."
They added: "We would like for our Baby Ru to leave a legacy in his name and for all other whānau’s to learn from this.
"We’ve had to learn the hard way and go through this, Ruthless was turning two tomorrow and was going to be celebrating it with whānau and his friends.
"Our whānau will never forget this little boy he was our soul but he was taken from us. It’s time for our whānau to mourn as we wait for our boy to be released from his post-mortem assessment.
"Piki Te Ora, Piki Te Kaha, Piki Te Maramatanga, Me te rangimarietanga.”
Kāinga Ora's Greater Wellington regional director Vicki McLaren confirmed to 1News a death had occurred at one of its properties.
"Our team was very sad to learn this morning of what police are describing as an unexplained death at one of our properties in Lower Hutt," she said.
"We will be working alongside other agencies to understand the needs of the whānau to ensure they get the support they need at this extremely difficult time.
"We won't be commenting further as police are still investigating the circumstances surrounding the death and we want to protect the privacy of our customer and their whānau."
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