Latest news with #CatalyaRemana
RNZ News
5 days ago
- RNZ News
Man charged with murder of Northland toddler Catalya Remana Tangimetua-Pepene named
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".
RNZ News
25-05-2025
- RNZ News
'Our beautiful darling': Three-year-old to be farewelled around the same time a man is due to appear in court for her murder
Three-year-old Catalya Remana Tangimetua-Pepene, known as Remana, is being farewelled in Ngararatunua, near Whangārei. Photo: Supplied A 3-year-old Northland child is due to be buried this afternoon around the same time a man is due in court charged with her murder. The 45-year-old man will appear in the Kaikohe District Court on Monday charged with assaulting a child sometime between 1 and 30 April, and with murdering the same child on 21 May. Meanwhile, Eternal Tides Funeral Services has advised that "our beautiful darling" - Catalya Remana Tangimetua-Pepene - was being farewelled today at Te Paea Marae, just north of Whangārei, starting at 10am. The toddler, known to close family as Remana, would be buried at the nearby St James Church cemetery in Ngāraratunua. Emergency services were called to a home on Tawanui Road, in Kaikohe, about 6.15pm last Wednesday, where they found the girl unresponsive. Police said she could not be saved, despite medical treatment at the scene. Police investigating her death initially treated it as unexplained but announced the arrest late on Sunday. The man, who cannot be named before he has appeared in court, is due before a judge on early Monday afternoon. Detective Senior Sergeant Christan Fouhy said Victim Support was supporting the whānau and local community following the tragedy. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
