A MAN accused of raping and murdering an eight-year-old girl in a Perth shopping centre toilet is likely to face trial in October after pleading not guilty today.
The naked body of Sofia Rodriguez-Urrutia-Shu was found on the floor of a toilet cubicle at Livingston Market Shopping Centre in east suburban Canning Vale on June 26, 2006.
Dante Wyndham Arthurs, 21, appeared today in the West Australian Supreme Court via video-link from prison.
He pleaded not guilty to the girl's wilful murder, to sexually penetrating the child and depriving her of her liberty.
His lawyer Bob Richardson today told Judge Donald Blaxell there were matters that needed to be determined by a judge before a trial could proceed.
But he asked for a three-week trial to be tentatively set for October.
Justice Blaxell remanded Arthurs in custody until July 2, when a two-day directions hearing is likely to be set, ahead of the trial in the late October.
