After serving just under five months in prison Valencia Skipper has successfully appealed the sentence passed after she crashed a car, killing her daughter last year.
The 21-year-old mother was jailed in April after she was convicted of causing the death of her two-year-old daughter Te Aroha Skipper-Hira in a car crash, while under the influence of methamphetamine, on the Hawke's Bay Expressway in January 2016.
In a decision released today, the Court of Appeal allowed the appeal against her two and a half year sentence of imprisonment, but dismissed her appeal against conviction.
Skipper's lawyer, Madeline Laracy, told the Court of Appeal last week that the jail sentence was too harsh and should be changed to a more suitable sentence of home detention.
She argued that while there was methamphetamine in her client's system, it was a small amount and there was no evidence it had directly caused the crash.
"The ESR analysis showed that this was an extremely low level of methamphetamine.
"That factor, and the fact that the ESR did not go so far as to draw any causative link between the level of the drug and the driver behaviour, that was a useful indicator for the judge that the lesser charge was the appropriate one."
Ms Laracy said they had found a possible home detention address with Skipper's mother.
Crown lawyer Meetra Wong acknowledged the sentence was "stern" and said they were open to the possibility of home detention, but added the conviction itself shouldn't be changed.
"On the judge's finding there was some impairment, or some connection between the methamphetamine and the accident.
"But there was no finding that there was significant or serious impairment.
"The Crown accepts that the appellant was remorseful. This was a distressing, horrible event that happened to her."
Skipper's sentence was quashed and the matter was remitted back to the District Court for re-sentencing.
"We direct that a home detention appendix be prepared. The appellant should be brought before the District Court as soon as possible to decide bail in the interim," the decision read.
Skipper was a forbidden driver when she lost control of a car she was driving on the Hawke's Bay Expressway on January 13, 2016.
Her daughter was unrestrained in a child seat at the rear of the car and was flung from the vehicle after it veered across the centre line into oncoming traffic and collided with the dirt bank of a ditch.
Witnesses described the vehicle suddenly "ricocheting" across the road with no explanation as to why this occurred.
The two-year-old suffered significant injuries and died at the scene.
Skipper's 11-year-old sister was also in the car sitting in the front passenger seat and received minor injuries.
Blood analysis results confirmed Skipper's blood contained the class A controlled drug, methamphetamine. However the concentration was unspecified in the summary of facts.