A woman was today jailed for the manslaughter of her mother, who died after the pair fought in the mother's Napier home.
Annie Rangi, 52, was sentenced to three years and six months jail, for the assault which happened on December 28 last year.
Rangi pleaded guilty in June, admitting she caused the death of mother Aileen Macdonald, who was 70 when she died in hospital three days after the assault.
The sentence was imposed by Justice David Collins in the High Court in Napier today.
Distressed family sat quietly during an unbroken hearing of more than three hours, including disputed fact evidence from both the defendant and her Australia-based brother John Mohlmann.
Rangi had come from Rotorua to be with her ailing mother for the day, after she had told her of her loneliness.
She took her mother out for breakfast, and they socialised during the day and evening before the pair became involved in a drunken dispute at the Veronica Ave home in Napier.
Rangi said she became comfortable about confronting her mother with issues of the past, and asked why her mother had let alcohol intervene in bringing up the family and why her mother had failed to protect the children when they were young.
She punched her mother, and left the house to cool-off, saying in court she had left her mother to sleep it off.
While she said in court there were two punches, Crown prosecutor Steve Manning highlighted a pathologist's report which said there had been about five punches.
After leaving the house Rangi text-messaged a niece. She drove back to the house, but fled after seeing the police and an ambulance.
Her brother told the court of a phone discussion he had soon afterwards with his sister, in which she described what had happened.
Rangi turned herself into police in the morning.
The Judge considered submissions from Mr Manning and defence counsel Russell Fairbrother Q.C., taking into account the circumstances, the guilty plea, the degree of remorse, and previous good character before determining the sentence.
A niece of Macdonald spoke on behalf of the family outside the court saying they respected the process and the appeal provisions, and could not comment yet on the details or the sentence.
She said nothing could bring back a most loved, "full-of-life," and charismatic member of the family, but hopefully everyone could move-on.