For nearly a year, law enforcement officials have been working to investigate the murder of a 7-year-old girl named Julissia Batties, who was found beaten to death at her mother’s apartment in the Bronx.
Julissia’s father and grandmother said investigators urged them to be patient; The case, they say, is very complicated.
On Wednesday, the wait was over. Police say Julissia’s mother, Navasia Jones, and Julissia’s 18-year-old half-brother, Paul Fine Jr., have been arrested for murder. Mr. Fine was also charged with sexual abuse.
Julissia’s Murder was one of a series of deaths last year promote new city policies to more closely monitor families where abuse is suspected and to improve coordination between the police and child welfare agency, the Children’s Services Administration.
Immediately after Julissia’s death, her mother and half-brother offered conflicting explanations – Mr Fine said he beat Julissia for taking some snacks, but Mrs Jones said the girl had fell and hit his head on a desk, police said at the time. .
Ultimately, the Bronx district attorney, Darcel D. Clark, said that both were responsible for the death of Ms. Jones’ “innocent, defenseless 7-year-old daughter”.
Ms. Clark said in a statement that Mr. Fine assaulted Julissia from August 8 to August 10, the day she died, and that Ms Jones, 36, did not receive medical help while Julissia lay breathing. repent. The girl was hit with enough force to injure her internal organs and had bruises and other injuries on her face, wrists, collarbone and thighs, Ms. Clark said.
The investigation found Mr. Fine sexually abused Julissia after she was assaulted.
“This is a rebellious, disturbing case of brutality and callousness,” Ms Clark said.
Julissia’s paternal grandmother, Yolanda Davis, who raised Julissia most of her life, said by phone from the Bronx courthouse where Ms Jones and Mr Fine would be arranged that the investigation should not have taken so long. . “But I’m glad we’re here now,” she added.
When Julissia was born in 2014, her mother lost custody of five other children – including Mr. Fine – after they were found to have shown signs of physical abuse.
As an infant, Julissia was excluded from her mother and father, Julius Batties, because the child welfare agency found that they were not providing the “minimum level of care”. She was sent to live with her grandmother, Mrs. Davis.
Ms. Davis said she and Julissia had a good life together. “Anything she wanted to do to make her day better, I did,” she said in an interview last year.
Julissia’s mother has struggled with her mental health. She takes anger management and parenting classes.
As she gradually shows more of a mother’s health, Ms Jones regains custody of one of her other children and she also manages to bring Julissia back. Although a social worker noted in 2019 that Julissia became annoyed every time she mentioned a visit with her mother, the child welfare system aims to reunite children with their parents. In April 2020, Ms. Davis took Julissia to see her mother for an extended visit, and the child welfare agency decided to keep it permanently.
Last summer, neighbors said they often heard Mrs Jones yelling at her children. Police said there were at least nine reports of domestic abuse on file for the family, although there was no information on the timing or outcome of the incidents.
Neighbors say they sometimes see Julissia in the street alone. The person who saw the black eye, Jasmine Jones, who is not related to Navasia, said that Julissia told her it was caused by her mother. But a caseworker closed the complaint after visiting the home, where Julissia said she was shot with a water pistol, and her mother showed the toy.
In October, following the battered death of Julissia and three other children, the city appointed a captain to oversee child abuse cases in the police’s Special Victims Division, which began demanding police visit homes in cases of suspected abuse when someone in the household is in the home. history of violence and restarting cross-training between police and ACS
Mr Batties, who is trying to get custody of the 3-year-old son he has with Ms Jones, said he was feeling “so many different emotions – happy, sad, disgusted” when he heard the news of the arrest , but added, “What a great feeling the process is going.”
Mrs. Davis choked on Wednesday thinking about her granddaughter.
“I was just injured so badly that I couldn’t save her,” she said. “And I tried everything. I tried everything to save her, I did everything I could, and no one was listening.”
