Woman admits killing elderly mum

Annie Rangi will be sentenced for killing her elderly mother. Photo / File

A Wairoa woman has admitted killing her elderly mother in Napier.

Annie Rangi, aka Anne Savage, 52, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Aileen MacDonald, 70, who was assaulted in her Veronica Ave home in Onekawa on December 28.

She died three days later.

Rangi, from Wairoa, was remanded on bail and will be sentenced in Napier High Court on August 11.

Her lawyer, Russell Fairbrother QC, appeared in the High Court in Napier before Justice Simon France, presiding via video link from the High Court in Wellington.

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.