Karla Cardno's father denies sex charges

The father of Lower Hutt schoolgirl Karla Cardno, who was brutally raped, tortured and murdered 20 years ago, today pleaded not guilty to sex charges against an underage girl.

Gary John Duffin and his wife Sharyn Lee Hills jointly denied five sex offences, including sexual violation, against a girl aged between 12-16.

They also jointly denied 10 charges of supplying cannabis to three different minors.

The trial in the High Court in Wellington is set down for five days.

The pair earlier appealed to have their names suppressed because of the risk their case would attract strong media attention due to Duffin being Karla Cardno's natural father.

They also argued both were suffering medical conditions and name publication would result in significant stress.

However, Court of Appeal judge Justice David Baragwanath said in his ruling released in June, there was no basis in which name suppression could be justified and "since eventual publication was unavoidable there is no purpose in deferring it".

Karla Cardno was 13 when she was kidnapped by Paul Joseph Dally in 1989.

He took her to his home where he raped and tortured her, before driving her to the Pencarrow coast, near Eastbourne, bludgeoned her with a piece of driftwood and buried her, still alive, in the sand.

Dally was sentenced to life imprisonment and was denied parole last year, with the Parole Board ruling that he was a medium- to high-risk of reoffending.

- NZPA