A woman responsible for murdering five-year-old Tauranga boy Malachi Subecz will spend at least 17 years behind bars.
Michaela Barriball, 27, was also charged with willfully ill-treating a child and grievous bodily harm in the High Court at Rotorua.
Malachi was found with injuries at a Te Puna property on 1 November and treated in Tauranga Hospital.
He was subsequently airlifted to Starship Hospital in Auckland, where he died on 12 November.
Justice Paul Davison said the abuse Malachi faced was at the highest end of any scale that he considers no less than torture.
Michaela Barriball's sister Sharron Barriball was also sentenced today for perverting the course of justice.
She received six months' home detention.
RNZ
