The dad of a slain 7-year-old Bronx girl blasted authorities for letting her case drag on for more than three years — as the child’s allegedly murderous mother skipped a planned hearing Monday.
Navasia Jones, 37, further stalled the wheels of justice by refusing to leave a city Corrections Department bus after officers drove her from Rikers Island for her planned appearance in Bronx Supreme Court.
“I don’t know what to say anymore. This is unheard of, this is nuts,” heartbroken dad Julius Batties told The Post later Monday.
“It makes me angry, it makes me sad,” Batties added. “This is unreal. Three years and nothing? She’s sitting in jail but that’s nothing, that’s not justice. It’s like she never murdered my daughter.”
After asking court officers several times Monday about whether Jones would be produced in court, Bronx Supreme Court Justice Joseph McCormick ultimately adjourned the case to Wednesday.
The abandoned court appearance comes after the third anniversary of police discovering little Julissia’s battered body in Jones’ apartment at NYCHA’s Mitchell Houses complex on Aug. 10, 2021.
The case shocked the Big Apple and sparked allegations that the city’s Administration of Children’s Services had failed the girl by returning her to her mom’s home, where there had been a known history of violence.
Part of the delay comes from the fact that it took nearly a year after Julissia’s shocking death, in June 2022, for cops to arrest Jones and her son, Paul Fine Jr., 19, on murder and manslaughter charges.
Batties called it “ridiculous” that his daughter’s accused killers have been languishing in city jails since then without even a trial date set.
Jones is now scheduled to appear then alongside Fine Jr., who is charged with beating Julissia, his half-sister, to death and sexually assaulting the child after punching her repeatedly in the stomach.
Jones is charged with murder as well, and allegedly lied to police by claiming that the girl had merely fallen and hit her head on a desk, prosecutors say.
A spokesperson for Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark’s Office said that prosecutors plan to set a schedule as soon as Wednesday for the case to finally move forward.
“We stand ready for the case to move forward towards hearings and trial,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement, adding that the office’s Crime Victims Assistance Bureau will make services available to Batties’ family for as long as they need them.
Fine Jr. recently hired a new private attorney, Maspeth-based Deveraux L. Cannick, court records show. A Bronx DA spokesperson said that the lawyer switch-up has also contributed to the delay.
Batties’ father said that he’s beyond frustrated with the case dragging on this long — and demanded that authorities find a way for his nightmare to end.
“I’ve got to keep living this everyday. I can’t move forward with my life because this is still going on,” he told The Post.
“It’s like being stuck in a horror movie,” Batties said, adding, “Maybe something will happen on Wednesday.”
