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James Joseph Ruhe Lawrence - Source: NZ Police
Police investigate the scene of a toddler's death in Orakei, South Auckland. - Source: ONE News -
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A toddler who died in Auckland this week had suffered "blunt force trauma to the abdomen", police say.
A homicide investigation was launched following the death of James Joseph Ruhe Lawrence at his home in suburban Orakei on Monday.
The two-year-old, known as JJ, died before ambulance services arrived. He was buried in Northland yesterday.
Police say the trauma to his abdomen caused severe damage to his internal organs.
Detective Inspector Scott Beard said several people associated with Lawrence have been spoken to over the past few days.
He said many of those spoken to had co-operated fully.
However, Beard said some accounts of what happened to the boy were not consistent with what was known from the post-mortem results.
"At the time of the incident in JJ's home, we understand there were four adults and three children - including JJ - present," he said.
"We need the adults to tell us all they know about what happened to JJ - for his and his wider family's sake."
Meanwhile, Child, Youth and Family revealed earlier this week that JJ was on its radar for the past month, but that it could not find him.
''We consulted with other agencies, visited the home several times and were actively attempting to find mother and child," CYF northern regional director Grant Bennett said.
The investigation into the two-year-old's death continues.
'Good neighbours'
Police have also spoken with neighbours.
One of them, Tepkuru Titoko, described the young couple as good neighbours who lent him jumper leads when he needed them. He said he often saw the boy out riding his bike.
Another neighbour said police were often in the neighbourhood doing curfew checks and dealing with petty crime.
She said she was shocked to hear of the homicide probe.
Advocacy organisation Child Matters chief executive Anthea Simcock said there seemed to be more child-abuse related deaths in Auckland in recent months.
There could be more cases, but they may not become apparent until post-mortems were carried out, she said.
But the number of child and baby deaths as a result of injury or neglect actually appeared to be less than in the previous two years, Simcock said.
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