The lawyer for Moko Rangitoheriri's mother says she is utterly devasted to again have to confront the horrific circumstances of her son's death in court.
Tania Shailer Photo: FAIRFAX NZ
One of the three-year-old's killers, Tania Shailer, lodged an appeal with the Court of Appeal on Tuesday against her sentence for his manslaughter.
Shailer, 26, and David Haerewa, 44, were sentenced at the High Court in Rotorua last month to 17 years in jail with a minimum non-parole period of nine years. The couple bashed and kicked Moko to death when he was in their care in Taupo last year.
Shailer believes the judge did not give enough weight to her personal mitigating circumstances.
Arama Ngapo-Lipscombe, lawyer for Moko's mother Nicola Dally-Paki, said she was devastated because she did not want to relitigate the entire tragedy.
"As you can imagine we're almost coming up to the one year anniversary of this horrific event so she has enough emotions that she is dealing with having to confront that.
-"This is just another step that she has to go through"- Arama Ngapo-Lipscombe
Ms Ngapo-Lipscombe said the question now was what David Haerewa and his legal team would do next.