Prosecutor Gordon Mansfield yesterday informed a city court that the police case file on the murder of four-year-old Alex Prince is not yet complete.
He was at the time reporting to Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan when murder accused Joseph James, 21, was brought before her.
James has not been required to plead to the indictable charge, which states that on October 7th, 2019, at Silver Hill, Soesdyke Highway, he murdered Prince in the course or furtherance of rape.
After learning that the case file remains incomplete. The magistrate transferred the matter to the Linden Magistrate’s Court, where the case will be called on October 23rd.
James and Prince’s 18-year-old mother were taken into custody after an autopsy showed that the child died as a result of head trauma and that he had been raped. Prince’s mother has since been released. Prince was left at home in the care of James while the mother went to work. James reportedly told the police that around 9.30 am last Monday, he left home and went to a shop. Upon his return, he discovered the child laying on the bed naked and motionless. The boy was later pronounced dead on arrival at the Linden Hospital. A post-mortem examination revealed that he died as a result of blunt trauma to the head and that he had been sodomised.
