Julissia Batties: Mom and brother of 7-year-old FINALLY arrested a year after her death
Following an almost 12-month wait for justice, 7-year-old Julissia Batties' mother Navasia Jones and her teenage brother Paul Fine Jr were both arrested on Wednesday, June 29, for allegedly killing the girl at their Bronx home last August. The girl's body, which was covered in signs of torture, was discovered inside an apartment in the Mitchel Houses on Alexander Avenue the morning of August 10, 2021, according to police.
"Mom and brother are both culpable. They both had a role in it, but who delivered the fatal blow is not clear," a senior police source said. Jones informed police that her daughter slipped and banged her head on a desk after being found dead. Sources told The Post that Fine Jr, 18, revealed during questioning that he had punched his sister eight times in the face while their mother was out shopping at around 5 am. The 35-year-old mother called 911 after the girl started throwing up and passed out hours later. Despite being sent to Lincoln Hospital right away, Julissia died. Authorities declared the incident to be a homicide. According to the city medical examiner's office, she died from "blunt force abdominal trauma."
READ MORE
While leaving the 40th Precinct station house in Mott Haven, Jones yelled at a reporter, "I didn't kill my daughter, bitch." In addition, Fine Jr was accused of sexually abusing his younger sister. The girl had been sodomized, according to the postmortem results, a police source told The Post.
Yolanda Davis, Batties' grandmother and former caregiver, who waited nearly a year after the awful death for the mother to be held accountable, welcomed the charges as a sign of relief. Davis told The Post, "Oh my God, I've never been so happy. Oh my God, thank you so much. Oh my God, I really thank him."
"I'm just so happy I'm getting justice for my granddaughter. Oh my God, I've never felt so great," Davis added. It was a "great day," Julius Batties, Julissia's father, told The Post, "I'm going to court, I gotta see this. This, I definitely gotta see."
"I'm extremely happy for this arrest. I can finally start the process of healing," he remarked. "It took almost a whole year but it's here and I’m ready for this process to keep going. I want to thank the detective and the DA for their hard work."
Julius afterwards watched as his ex and her teenage son were led out in handcuffs while standing outside the 40th Precinct stationhouse. He referred to the absence of supervision by the Administration of Children's Services when he declared that the system "definitely failed her first and foremost."
"I miss her every day. I miss her all the time. I'm her voice and I'm never going to shut up," he added in reference to his daughter. Jones, who was wearing a white Gucci shirt, black leggings, and black boots, denied killing her child while being taken to court by police. Later on Wednesday afternoon, the mother and her son were both arraigned in Bronx court and jailed without bail.
At the time of their court appearance, the prosecution made horrifying revelations. The minor victim had "600 milliliters of blood in her abdomen" and had been "sexually assaulted as she was dying." Prosecutors claimed that the girl was beaten with "enough force for internal organs to tear and bleed."
The brother even admitted to hitting the girl while speaking with ACS investigators. "Defendant Paul Fine Jr confessed to ACS that he had assaulted Julissia all over her body in the two-day period for which he is charged," Camila Sosa, an assistant district attorney, stated in court.
"He also admitted to both ACS and the police that he punched her multiple times in the face on the day that she was pronounced dead," Sosa claimed, "And that he had done so because she had thrown up or stolen snacks." She alleged that Fine Jr "contined to beat and sexually abuse Julissia as she lay dying."
Jones' attorney, Filaree Moore, had asked the judge to grant her client's release without fee or on a small bond, claiming that because she is not "a medical professional," she was unaware that the girl needed assistance. "What the district attorney is describing… punching, wheezing," Moore countered, "[Jones] didn’t realize there was anything to seek medical attention for."
However, the murdered girl's aunt expressed the family's joy outside the courtroom, echoing their relief that charges had finally been brought against the accused. Felicia Thomas proclaimed, "This part is wonderful. It's a big relief. I thought this day would never come." When Fine Jr was brought inside, she glared at him and shouted, "Your ass is grass, mister!"