Crown Law will consider filing an appeal over the home detention sentence given to a woman who killed a teenage boy in a hit-and-run.
On Friday Rouxle Le Roux, 19, was sentenced to 11 months' home detention and 250 hours of community service for killing 15-year-old Nathan Kraatskow in May.
She hit the boy at an Albany intersection after consuming cannabis and alcohol, and fled the scene before turning herself into the police some 16 hours later.
Her sentencing ignited nationwide outrage, and more than 109,000 people have signed a petition asking the Crown to appeal her punishment in favour of a harsher sentence.
A Crown Law spokesperson told Newshub the Auckland Crown Solicitor had referred the matter to the Solicitor-General's office for consideration.
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She wouldn't comment on the case while the process was underway, but said a decision about an appeal would be filed in the next few weeks - within 20 working days from Le Roux's sentencing.
It's been suggested on social media that Le Roux received a relatively light sentence because of her "privilege".
The young woman's own social media activity has angered many New Zealanders, especially an Instagram post on Halloween which showed her dressed in a prisoner's orange jumpsuit alongside the caption: 'Hide your children'.
She also posted photos joking about having to take the bus after being banned from driving for two-and-a-half years.
The National Party says the case shows New Zealand needs to be tougher on crime, but a prominent lawyer has warned against letting social media backlash dictate policy.
"A lot of people who have gone on social media - with respect to them all - they will not know what the judge knew," Marie Dyhrberg QC told RadioLIVE.
"To put a young person in prison, you may say is not going to help her be rehabilitated, to take responsibility for what she has done. Home detention is actually a tough sentence."
Newshub.
