Mon, 05 Oct 2009 5:42p.m.
Gary Duffin
By Dan Parker
The father of murdered schoolgirl Karla Cardno is on trial in the Wellington High Court.
Gary Duffin and his wife Sharyn Hills are charged with a range of sexual and drug offences which the Crown alleges took place just two years after the death of Karla.
The couple face a total of 15 sex and drug-related charges, which the Crown alleges took place in 1991. It says Duffin invited two 14-year-old girls who he knew through his murdered daughter Karla to stay with him and his wife at a Wellington hotel.
The girls were given drugs and one was asked by Hills to help her with a problem.
"Her recollection is that the accused... asked her to carry a baby for her, and Mrs Hills herself could not conceive," says Crown prosecutor Jo Murdoch.
The Crown alleges Duffin then raped the girl while Hills watched.
The victim kept the incident a secret, and a month later was successfully recruited to work as a prostitute for Duffin's escort agency.
The pair have pleaded not guilty to all 15 charges, and deny that some of the events ever took place.
However, defence lawyer Greg King says Duffin has made a major concession.
"You will appreciate there is an acceptance of what is relatively serious offending," says Mr King, "at the very least underage sexual intercourse and supplying cannabis to a girl under the age of 18."
However the defence revolves around two main points - that everything that happened was consensual, and that the incidents happened a year later than the Crown claims.
The prosecution will call five witnesses and will read three written submission which are not in dispute. The trial is set down for five days in the Wellington High Court.
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