Two Rotorua sisters will find out today whether they will avoid going to jail for blackmailing a man one had a sexual encounter with.
Amanda Waitangi Sale, 21, and Pisila Martin, 31, appeared in the High Court at Rotorua yesterday where an appeal against their two-year prison sentence was heard. The pair had been on bail awaiting the appeal.
Justice Rebecca Ellis reserved her decision, saying it would be released today.
The women, both mothers of three, were sentenced in the Rotorua District Court in June by Judge Phil Gittos after they had previously pleaded guilty to two counts each of blackmail.
In February Sale met a middle-aged married man for a sexual encounter, after which she said she was going to "take him down" and say he'd abused her. She took him to an ATM machine and made him withdraw $1700.
Over the following days Martin threatened the man, saying her Mongrel Mob associates could "sort you out", and both sisters demanded more money.
They received about $2000 each from him before he went to the police.
Sale's lawyer, Bill Lawson, told Justice Ellis a number of errors had been made in reaching the original sentence.
"The District Court judge has given this a higher level of criminality than in my submission it probably deserves," he said.
He said the judge did not appear to give Sale any credit for her remorse, guilty plea or offer to pay reparation. The judge was wrong to presume only a sentence of prison would act as a deterrent, he said.
Mr Lawson said a home detention sentence would be more appropriate.
Martin's lawyer, Andy Schulze, said his client's actions were best described as "opportunistic" and her "troubled and difficult" background could not be ignored. He referred to other blackmail cases that were more serious but resulted in lesser sentences.
Crown prosecutor Andy Hill said the Crown was neutral on the issue of home detention.