Catalya Remana Tangimetua-Pepene. Photo: Supplied
A 45-year-old man has denied murdering a toddler in a case that rocked their home town of Kaikohe.
Drummond Augustine Leaf appeared in the High Court at Whangārei on Wednesday morning charged with the murder of Catalya Remana Tangimetua-Pepene on 21 May this year.
He was also charged with assaulting the three-year-old in a separate incident a month earlier.
Leaf pleaded not guilty and elected a trial by jury.
He was remanded in custody and is due back in court on 18 July.
Leaf, who appeared by audio visual link, had earlier been granted name suppression but that lapsed on Wednesday.
His next appearance, for a case review hearing, is expected to be in person.
More than 400 people, including iwi and community leaders and a Rātana brass band, marched down Kaikohe's main street last week to honour Catalya's short life.
Neighbours in the Tawanui Road housing complex where she lived said her smile was so bright "it lit up the whole world".
