A 26-year-old man in New Zealand, Gustav Sanft (of Tongan heritage), has been found guilty of manslaughter by a New Zealand jury in relation to the death of his 2-year-old daughter, Amokura Daniels-Sanft, in 2016. He was sentenced to four years and four months’ imprisonment today.

According to the case facts, Gustav unintentionally shot Amokura with a firearm at their home in South Auckland last year. During the trial, Gustav submitted that he aimed the firearm at Amokura to scare her. Gustav also submitted that he did not pull the trigger of the weapon and that it had gone off inadvertently.

The prosecution in the case, submitted that Gustav was careless and that Amokura’s death resulted from failures on his part to check if the weapon was loaded.

Gustav’s partner and mother of Amokura, Julia Daniels, gave a testimony in which she pleaded to the court to not give Gustav a prison sentence.

She said, “I know people want to see Gustav punished for this accident, I see it every day in him that he punishes himself,"

"All I can ask is have mercy on Gustav. Our babies need their daddy at home, that is where he belongs."

The judge, Justice Geoffrey Venning, slammed Gustav for not taking full responsibility for the death of Amokura.

Justice Venning also dismissed Gustav’s submission that he did not pull the trigger. "Your denial you pulled the trigger is something you have latched onto, perhaps to help explain to yourself, and others, the terrible consequences of that morning," he said.