Dad of slain Bronx girl Julissia Batties gets custody of her younger brother.
A Bronx dad’s dogged fight for his son has finally paid off.
Julius Batties was granted full custody this week of his 4-year-old son, Jayceon, the younger brother of his 7-year-old daughter, Julissia, whose tragic 2021 death shocked the city.
The devastated dad is still awaiting justice for her accused killers — mother Navasia Jones, 37, and half-brother Paul Fine Jr., 19. Both face murder and manslaughter charges.
Fine was also charged with sexual abuse.
But Thursday’s family court decision brought Batties some peace.
“I have full custody,” he said proudly. “I got my son. It feels great,” Batties, 39, told The Post. “It’s a big release like tons of bricks off my back because I’ve been fighting for this for a long time and as it was happening in court, I felt the release. … the freedom of being freed from them is like I’ve been freed from a jail.”
The girl’s tiny, battered body was found in her mother Jones’ disheveled apartment at NYCHA’s Mitchell Houses complex on Aug. 10, 2021 — amid a lengthy custody battle that had seen the girl returned to her mom’s care by city child services just a month before she was killed.
The arrests didn’t go down until June 2022.
The dad is not about to allow Jones any visitation.
Batties, who works in construction, passionately testified Thursday, as Jones watched, as to why he deserved full custody of their son.
He did not once glance over in the direction of Jones. “I couldn’t bear to look,” Batties said.
As for Jayceon?
“He is good, he’s very happy and I’ll continue to make sure he is happy and he is well taken care of. I’m taking care of him the way he needs to be taken care of. My job is to keep him happy, let him be a kid, enjoy his life.”
But the emotional rollercoaster has one more stop: “Now it’s just the criminal part… that’s something I hope I can put behind me, too. That’s the last hurdle I’ve got to deal with.”
