Just days after Christmas last year, the family's nightmare began, when the grandmother of seven and great-grandmother of two succumbed to injuries in Hawke's Bay Hospital.
She died on December 31, a day after Rangi was charged with common assault.
At Mrs MacDonald's funeral in January, her eldest child, Johnny Mohlmann, said his mother was "a huge success" and recalled fond memories of her 70th birthday in August last year.
He said his mum had a "mischievous spirit", and was a "bit of a thrill seeker".
"She liked fast cars and she was always telling me when I was driving her to 'boot it son'."
She "loved" her jet boating, skydiving and also swam with the sharks at the National Aquarium in Napier.
She was also described by her family as young at heart and "always a bright light".
The victim was born into a large family and was one of five sisters with two brothers who grew up on a farm near the northern Hawke's Bay town of Wairoa.
