The 39-year-old man accused of the murder of 17-month-old Sadie-Leigh Gardner has denied the charge.
Adrian Clancy appeared before Justice Graham Lang in the High Court at Tauranga today.
A not guiĺty plea was entered by Clancy through his lawyer Murray McKechnie.
Justice Lang remanded matters to July 17 for a case review hearing.
Clancy appeared by audio-visual link from prison.
Justice Lang set down a two-week trial in the High Court at Rotorua on May 18 next year.
He further remanded Clancy in custody until the case review hearing.
Clancy's application for interim name suppression was denied by Judge Paul Mabey during a previous district court appearance in April.
Sadie-Leigh Gardner was taken to Auckland's Starship Hospital from Tauranga with serious head injuries following an incident at an address in Maungatapu Rd on March 27.
In April, Detective Senior Sergeant Lindsay Pilbrow said the results of the post mortem and medical examinations had prompted police to treat the death as a homicide.
The toddler arrived in hospital with critical injuries on March 27 and died in Starship Hospital two days later on March 29.