Friday Yokoju will be tried in the Victorian Supreme Court after he formally entered pleas to the charges of murder and intentionally causing injury in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
He is accused of inflicting critical injuries to veteran photographer Dominic O'Brien, 62, during an altercation near the corner of Nicholson and Paisley streets in the Footscray, in Melbourne's inner west, just before 10am on June 15.
Mr O'Brien, whose work spanned multiple news organisations, including The Age, AAP, Reuters and The Australian, died six days later in hospital.
Yokoju appeared in court via video link from the Metropolitan Remand Centre wearing a green prison jumper.
"In relation to the charges, do you plead guilty or not guilty?" magistrate Donna Bakos asked.
"Not guilty, Your Honour," he replied.
Ms Bakos explained to Yokoju that his not guilty plea meant he has elected to stand trial in the Supreme Court, to which he nodded.
He was remanded in custody and will appear before the Supreme Court on May 12.
Yokoju was one of the immigration detainees released after the High Court ruled in November 2023 that indefinite detention of prisoners with no prospect of deporting them in the foreseeable future was unlawful.
The decision overturned a 2004 ruling that allowed unsuccessful asylum seekers, who couldn't be moved to another country, to be held in indefinite detention.
He was subjected to electronic monitoring via an ankle bracelet upon release.
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