The Daily Examiner. Victim: Three-year-old Catalya Remana Tangimetua Pepene
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.
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“A child is dead and there’s a thunderous silence by Māori.” – The Daily Examiner
Man charged with murder of 3-year-old girl in Kaikohe – The Daily Examiner
Leaf, who appeared by audio visual link, had earlier been granted name suppression but that lapsed on Wednesday.
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”.
