Police have upgraded a probe into the death of Lower Hutt toddler Ruthless-Empire Souljah Reign Rhind Shephard Wall to a homicide investigation.

Detective Inspector Nick Pritchard said Ruthless-Empire’s death was a result of blunt force trauma and that it’s believed he died up to 12 hours before he was taken to hospital.

The child had multiple injuries.

He said police had spoken to those who were present when Ruthless-Empire was injured.

“This level of violence toward a child is difficult to fathom,” he said.

The nearly 2-year-old was unresponsive when taken to Hutt Hospital on Sunday from a home in Taitā.

Police have been at the property since Monday, with a forensic tent set up in the back garden. The home had several items of furniture and baby toys on the front lawn, as well as obscenities written on the windows.

Police investigate at the Poole St house. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Pritchard said police had engaged with three people, but they were not in custody.

• Baby wipes in mouth of 'vibrant, happy' child who died, police investigate

One was a direct relative and the two others were part of the extended family, he said.

“From the investigation, we believe his death occurred up to 12 hours prior [to him being taken to hospital].”

Pritchard said a post-mortem had shown the toddler’s death was a result of blunt force trauma not wet wipes found at the scene. He could not answer today if Ruthless-Empire had ingested any wet wipes.

He said police had ruled that wet wipes had “nothing to do” with Ruthless-Empire’s death.

Pritchard said the three people were known to police.

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

He said police were engaging with Oranga Tamariki to understand the context of Ruthless-Empire’s death.

“I would urge anyone with information to come forward and talk to police if they know what happened inside the property,” he said.

“We want justice,” he said.

Police had changed their position on saying it was an unexpected death to believing it was homicide after investigating available evidence.

Police were providing support to the family through Victim Support.

Officers were still trying to understand why the family and Ruthless-Empire were at the house.

Pritchard said police couldn’t control what people put on social media, saying talk online of the case was not always going to be accurate.

“We have engaged with all three persons of interest and we are getting varying degrees of engagement.

“Police are still gathering evidence. We’re not at that stage [to arrest or charge anyone].”

Yesterday, Ruthless-Empire’s great-aunt Sarah Reremoana told the Herald she took care of Ruthless-Empire from birth until he moved to Hamilton to be with his mother in June. He recently moved back to Wellington with his mother.

Reremoana saw Ruthless-Empire about four weeks ago.

“Baby was running everywhere, wouldn’t let me go once he got me. But it was time for me to leave, he didn’t want me to go, he just wanted to come with me, I said ‘You stay with mum and nanny’ and we decided we would see him soon for his birthday today.”

She said the family was heartbroken and described Ruthless-Empire as “the most vibrant, happiest child”.

“He was bright, he had a beautiful voice, a beautiful smile.”

The family had been told Ruthless-Empire may be released to the whānau today.

“It’s been such a long process ... I told our family let it be, we need every bit of evidence the coroner can find out what happened to our baby.”

The toddler’s uncle and family spokesman Ngatanahira Reremoana told the Herald Ruthless-Empire was a “happy and bubbly” baby who would brighten up any room with his smile.

He described his nephew as “our soul” and said the family was absolutely devastated, having learned of his death while they were gathered in church.

Baby Ruthless-Empire died in hospital on Sunday. Photo / Ngatanahira Reremoana

“We received this news whilst our church bells were ringing on Sunday that our Baby Ru had grown his wings and headed home to Torona o Iho [Throne of God].”

Ruthless-Empire was just days away from his second birthday when he died.

Police will speak to media from Wellington at 3pm.

-More to come

Vita Molyneux is a Wellington-based journalist who covers breaking news and stories from the capital. She has been a journalist since 2018 and joined the Herald in 2021.