A mother who was cleared of killing her baby has had her bid for compensation blocked by the Minister of Justice.
Terri Friesen is now looking at her legal options to review the decision.
There were tears of joy three years ago when Terri Friesen had a manslaughter conviction quashed in the Court of Appeal.
They're in stark contrast to the tears of disappointment now after Justice Minister Kris Faafoi sent her a letter ruling out compensation.
"After I'd been vindicated then I got slammed again with that - I just felt like he wanted to put me back in the hole," Friesen says.
For 27 years, Friesen lived with the wrongful conviction for the death of her baby after she gave police a false confession in 1989.
Faafoi cited that as a reason compensation would not be in the interests of justice.
The team who worked to overturn Teina Pora's wrongful conviction say false confessions are complex.
"In Terri's circumstances she was clearly vulnerable, she was a grieving mother who had just lost her baby, she was in an extremely violent relationship and she was under enormous pressure in the police station," says investigator Tim McKinnel.
But the Ministry is also questioning Friesen's innocence, based on evidence from a neighbour who heard her yell loudly the night baby Chantelle died.
Friesen's partner at the time later confessed that he had shaken the baby, and in 2011 he was convicted of killing the seven-week-old.
At the time the sentencing judge said "Chantelle's mother in fact had nothing to do with Chantelle's death".
Ten years on, two justice ministers have now looked at Friesen's compensation bid.
In a statement to Newshub, Faafoi said the substantive decision had been made by Andrew Little and he did not see grounds to overturn it.
Friesen says she just wants recognition that the conviction impacted the life she was able to provide for her other children.
"For the government to admit that was wrong, that would just free us and we'd be able to raise our heads up and look people in the eye and be able to make something of our lives and do something positive in society," she says.
"We don't even feel like we should take part because of the stigma they are still trying to put on me."
A stigma Friesen is now vowing to remove once more.
