Although Mekuli has been behind bars since his arrest days after the incident, she continues to live in fear that he or his associates will strike again.
She said her daughter was doing okay but her life had been turned upside down; she lost her job, lost her house and lost her life.
She said she still struggled to sleep.
"It's not good. I can't understand how this has happened."
The victim was also disappointed that she wasn't believed when she told investigators that he had been around to her house two weeks prior, knocking on her window late at night.
When he bowled into her bedroom on the morning of the attack she recognised him straight away but never said anything.
"It's really, really hard to have a normal life again."
She contemplated moving towns but even then, the fear of Mekuli would remain.
"I still can't believe that it happened in my own place. How can this happen in New Zealand?"
Recalling Mekuli strangle her and her daughter - with one hand around each of their throats - she heard her daughter say "mum, I can't breath".
"I was begging him to please don't do anything to my daughter," she said.
Although she couldn't block out the noise, she told her daughter to close her eyes and Mekuli carried out his violent rape which included him punching her to the face several times.
After the attack Mekuli demanded she drive him to a secure place to run free.
When they got to the front door, she spotted a neighbour in his driveway and saw an opportunity to escape.
She grabbed her daughter, pushed her in front of her and ran down across the road to the safety of her neighbour who then called police.
"I was really frightened and in so much pain, but just the fact that he was trying to take us somewhere and I was like 'oh my God, I need to make a way to escape' because I didn't want my daughter to die."
"I just want everyone to know how disappointed I am for [jail term] ...and he's changed my life."
