The man accused of killing his 12-year-old stepdaughter, schoolgirl Kelly Gush, appeared in the Hamilton District Court yesterday.
Darran Mackness, 35, was arrested on Friday August 9, five days after Kelly Gush died of head injuries in Waikato Hospital.
Mackness stood quietly while Judge Denise Clark remanded him in custody to reappear on August 28. A depositions hearing date has been set down for September 16.
His lawyer, David Wilson QC, criticised the media coverage of the circumstances surrounding the victim's home life before she died.
Coverage could interfere with a trial if potential jurors were influenced by newspaper reports, he said. "The case is a family tragedy, and no one, on my instructions, intended the death of this child."
He also criticised the prosecution's "unprecedented" delays in supplying him with information.
He said he had made an Official Information Act request to obtain the autopsy report and a copy of a police interview with Mackness.
Sergeant Wayne Robson said the information would be handed over as soon as possible.
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