Aaron Archer sentenced to seven years for Ariah Roberts' manslaughter

Aaron Archer and Ariah Roberts
Aaron Archer and Ariah Roberts Photo credit: Newshub, Facebook.

Aaron Archer has been sentenced to seven years and three months in prison for manslaughter.

Archer was found guilty of killing Ariah Roberts, his former girlfriend's two-year-old daughter, in Mangawhai last year.

The Crown alleged Archer inflicted a fatal head injury on the child while he looked after her in August 2018.

However, his defence said the death was accidental, claiming Archer had been spinning the child around playfully when he lost his grip on her, and that she hit her head on the wall and then fell to the ground.

In his trial at Auckland's High Court in September, Archer was found not guilty of murdering the toddler, but was instead found guilty of manslaughter.