Catalya Remana Tangimetua-Pepene. Photo: Supplied
Northland police have arrested a second person in relation to the death of a toddler that rocked Kaikohe last month.
Detective Senior Sergeant Christan Fouhy, of the Far North CIB, said a 31-year-old woman appeared in court on Thursday charged with neglecting three-year-old Catalya Tangimetua-Pepene.
The woman, who was remanded in custody, was also charged with using a forged document.
Fouhy said she was due back in Kaikohe District Court on 15 July.
Drummond Leaf, 45, was earlier charged with murdering Catalya in a housing complex on Kaikohe's Tawanui Road on 21 May.
He was also charged with assaulting the three-year-old in a separate incident a month earlier.
Leaf pleaded not guilty when he appeared in the High Court at Whangārei and elected a trial by jury.
He was remanded in custody and due back in court on 18 July.
More than 400 people, including iwi and community leaders and a Rātana brass band, held a memorial march down Kaikohe's main street last month to honour Catalya's short life.
Devastated neighbours said her smile was so bright "it lit up the whole world".
Fouhy said police could make no further comment on the case now that two people were before the courts.
