The woman accused of killing a four-year-old girl in Auckland is set to go to trial in November.
Maggie Renee Watson was found dead in the Onehunga house she shared with her mother in August last year.
A 44-year-old woman appeared in the High Court at Auckland this morning charged with murder following her arrest last month.
She cried during the brief hearing, at which Justice Moore continued her name suppression.
At her first appearance in Auckland District Court, the defendant was denied bail by Judge David Sharp and will remain behind bars until her next appearance in May.
The court scheduled a four-week trial to begin November and the Crown said there would be a large number of witnesses.
The girl was found dead at her Moana Ave home on August 7 last year. She lived there with her mother Evelyn Sen, originally from Malaysia. Her father Graham Watson lives in Britain.
A post-mortem examination failed to provide clear answers about the cause of the death. But a second autopsy was completed days later and the results led police to believe it was not accidental.
Des Gilmore lived two houses down from Maggie and her mother and was close to them. He told the New Zealand Herald he was happy someone would be held to account.
"She was a beautiful little girl, a lovely little girl. She was adorable. Every time I come home I pass the house and it's always on my mind. It is something that will never leave my mind."
Police previously said they had been in constant contact with the victim's maternal grandparents who live in Malaysia and her aunt who lives in the United States.
The grandparents were dumbfounded when police informed them their inquiry had become a homicide investigation.
"When we found out that Maggie didn't pass away naturally, that it was somebody who did it to her ... each step is getting more and more traumatic for us, especially my wife," the grandfather said.
The child had spent about two-and-a-half months visiting them with her mother in Malaysia before she died.
