Not an aggressor, not the boy who police say knocked little Ryan Harris off her bike by hitting her in the head with a rock on July 28. The girl died of asphyxiation with her panties stuffed in her mouth and leaves and grass jammed in her nostrils. Police say the boy and an 8-year-old friend killed Ryan for her shiny blue bicycle.

``I look at him, and I don't see a murderer,'' the woman said through sobs during an interview published yesterday in The Chicago Tribune.``I see my baby. He is my baby.''

The two boys are charged with the murder and are being held at a psychiatric hospital in Chicago. They are scheduled to be in court yesterday afternoon.

In the interview, the mother said her son is a rambunctious child who earns dollars andquarters by offering to fold clothes or sweep out the neighborhood launderette.

``He offers to fix the shelves in the store, he picks up (in) yards,'' said the 27-year-old, who works as a supervisor at a fast-food restaurant and has three other children aged 10, 8 and 5.

She spoke about seeing her son for the first time at police headquarters Sunday night. Detectives said he could go to the bathroom only if a police officer escorted him.

``He was sitting there, half-asleep, his thumb in his mouth,'' she recalled. ``And I watched this big detective taking him down the hall and bringing him back.... I knew something was wrong.''

After a court hearing Tuesday, the woman and her husband got to spend a few minutes with the boy in the courtroom, but bailiffs forbade them from touching him.

``I want to hug my baby,'' she said. ``I said, `can't you see that boy needs a hug?' and they said, `we aren't allowed to let you touch him.'

``He's so little. He's so scared,'' she said. ``I felt a tear coming down,and I had to walk away.''