A woman whose drunken Christmas Day attack left a former friend scarred has failed to have her sentence reduced.
Danielle Jordyn Tu Whangai (24) will now almost certainly give birth to her third child while behind bars, the High Court at Dunedin heard this week.
She was jailed in June for two years and one month but appealed the sentence on the grounds it was ''manifestly excessive''.
Offenders who are imprisoned for less than two years get automatic parole after serving half their term.
While Tu Whangai could conceivably be released earlier (parole hearings for people serving more than two years happen after a third of the sentence), she wanted some certainty on her time inside.
On Christmas Day, she had been drinking at a party.
Her mother and children had left earlier in the night.
Tu Whangai, ''for an unknown reason'', approached a childhood friend and began clawing at her face and neck.
The victim retreated to a nearby couch but the respite was short-lived.
Te Whangai made her way to the seat, dragged the woman backwards and forced her knee against the victim's throat so she was unable to move.
While incapacitated, the attacker struck her and scratched her face to the point where the woman lost consciousness.
When she came around, she tried to push Tu Whangai away but the aggressor responded by biting her thumb.
The court heard the woman was scarred and suffered anxiety since the incident.
Defence counsel Cate Andersen argued an uplift to her client's prison term by the sentencing judge had been skewed because there was an incorrect copy of her criminal history before the court.
Tu Whangai had also expressed her sorrow for what happened, which included an offer of compensation for ''remedial cosmetic work'' and an apology letter.
Ms Andersen said those factors should have got the end sentence reduced to less than two years.
Justice Nicholas Davidson said it was easy to feign such contrition but accepted in this case Tu Whangai's expression was authentic.
''I do think there was some sincerity evident in the apology written to the victim, and it is evident in a letter to the court which demonstrates some insight into what is extremely serious and dangerous offending,'' he said.
The judge expressed sympathy for the appellant's position and noted the failed appeal meant her next child - due in September - would likely be born while incarcerated.
Tu Whangai had been in counselling at Christchurch Women's Prison and was described as taking ''courageous steps towards her own recovery''.
It was that sort of motivation, Justice Davidson said, that might end a stream of offending which started in 2012 and allow the woman to achieve early release.
He refused to reduce her sentence: ''the judge's reasoning was sound and merciful''.
