Home detention for deadly mistake

A woman who fatally shot her partner after mistaking him for an intruder has been sentenced to nine months of home detention.

Amy Christine Smith appeared at the High Court in Auckland after earlier being found not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter of Danny Bruce Taylor, her partner of 12 years.

The court heard how Smith often stayed with Taylor in a converted barn on his farm at South Head, northwest of Auckland.

On April 3, 2019, the barn contained a large amount of cannabis and firearms.

In the aftermath of the shooting, Smith called 111 but the isolation of the farm meant help took time to arrive. By the time police had secured the scene for ambulance staff, Taylor was dead.

Smith later told police she mistook Taylor for an intruder and shot him in the arm. The 39-yearold said the couple had feared intruders would come to the farm and steal their drug stash.

Justice Mary Peters said Smith had been smoking marijuana since she was 15 years old.

Since her arrest Smith had undergone six months of drug treatment in the South Island.

The judge reduced Smith’s sentence to reflect her time on electronically monitored bail, her efforts at rehabilitation and her remorse. The judge also provided a reduction for Smith’s offer to plead guilty to manslaughter ahead of the trial.

As well as home detention, the judge ordered Smith to serve 400 hours of community detention.

One of Taylor’s daughters, Summer Ash, said the sudden loss of her father was heartbreaking.

‘‘That night you shot my dad was the worst day of my life and you, Amy, took him away from me. I will miss him every day.’’

Elle Grobben, Danny Taylor’s other daughter, said her father had taught her how to ride a bike without training wheels and later drive a car. She wept as she described her guilt over moving to Christchurch as a teenager.

Danny Taylor’s sister Debra read her mother’s victim impact statement as her mother was undergoing emergency surgery.

She said the knock at the door by police to tell her her son had been shot changed her life forever.

She said Taylor’s death meant the family has had to sell the family farm and the repeated court appearances had taken a toll on her and her husband’s health. ‘‘It is not going to end for us.’’

Smith’s lawyer, Sue Gray, said her client carried a heavy burden that would continue throughout her life. She said Smith had gone from being suicidal to a person living drug-free and was studying to become an addictions counsellor.