Woman who raped underage girl loses appeal

A Wellington brothel owner found guilty of aiding and abetting the rape of a 14-year-old girl has lost an appeal against her conviction and sentence.

Sharyn Lee Hills and her husband Gary John Duffin - the father and step-mother of murdered Lower Hutt schoolgirl Karla Cardno - were jointly found guilty of plying the girl with cannabis and valium before raping her in a hotel room.

The pair were convicted in October last year for the offending, which took place in the early 1990s. The girl began working for them as a prostitute shortly after.

Hills was sentenced in January to seven years' prison while Duffin was given a longer sentence of nine years for playing the lead role in the rape and after being found guilty of indecent assault.

Hills argued to the Court of Appeal that she was convicted on the basis of prejudicial and inadmissible evidence.

She also argued that her sentence was too long and close to Duffin's sentence who played a larger role in the offending.

Hills' lawyer Letizea Ord said evidence given by a witness who worked for Hill and Duffin as a prostitute while underage was prejudicial and inadmissible.

Ms Ord said the witness's links to Karla Cardno and the fact she worked for the accused as a prostitute while underage prejudiced the jury.

In a decision released today, the Court Of Appeal disagreed, and said any prejudice that came from the link between Karla Cardno and the accused came from the fact she was Duffin's daughter.

The argument that the evidence of an under-age prostitute had a "blackening" effect on the accused was also overstated, the court said.

The Crown's position that the witness's evidence, in which she said the accused had supplied her with cannabis and valium, could be linked with the "grooming" behaviour in the offences was a valid one.

An argument that not including parts of a video interview with Hills in the trial impacted the conviction was also flawed as the evidence was inadmissible, the court said.

The court also disagreed with the argument that Hills' sentence was too long and said it reflected the seriousness of the offending.

Duffin's 13-year-old daughter, Karla Cardno, was kidnapped, raped and tortured in 1989.

Her killer, Paul Dally, then took her to a beach near Wellington, beat her on the head with a piece of driftwood and buried her alive.

- NZPA