Wellington, Dec 8 NZPA - The Court of Appeal has backed the verdicts of a High Court jury and the nine year jail term imposed on Rotorua mum Lisa Kuka for the manslaughter of her three-year-old daughter, Nia Glassie.

Kuka appealed the two manslaughter verdicts against her and the jail term handed down in the High Court at Rotorua by Justice Judith Potter in February, but her appeals were dismissed in a decision released today.

Kuka's partner, Wiremu Curtis, and his brother, Michael Curtis, were sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 17-1/2 years for Nia's murder, while two others were jailed for ill-treating her.

Nia died of brain injuries in Auckland's Starship Hospital on August 3, 2007, two weeks after suffering fatal kicks to the head by the Curtis brothers. The kicks followed a two month period of ill-treatment, including wrestling moves being applied on Nia and her being placed in a clothes dryer which was then spun at top heat.

The two manslaughter counts alleged that Kuka failed to provide the necessities of life and failed to protected Nia from violence, thereby causing her death.

Kuka's lawyer challenged whether the expert medical evidence given at her trial established the required criminal standard that her failure to seek medical attention for Nia was a substantive and operative cause of her death. She also challenged the evidence that said she knew prior to Nia's lapse into a coma that the child was being subjected to violence.

Her lawyer said that one of the manslaughter charges should have had an alternative charge of neglecting to provide the necessaries of life.

But Appeal Court justices Grant Hammond, Bruce Robertson and Ellen France agreed with the jury verdicts, rebutting Kuka's challenges.

"In this case, there was available evidence from which it could reasonably inferred that Ms Kuka knew of the violence to which Nia was subjected and did nothing to protect her daughter from it," they said.

They also rejected Kuka's appeal that the nine year sentence was excessive.

"The sentence imposed was clearly within sentencing discretion and cannot be challenged," they said, adding that Justice Potter was entitled to recognise "the extreme failure by Ms Kuka to perform her duty as a mother".

"This was a stern sentence, but in our view it needed to be. It was clearly within sentencing discretion and the condemnation of Ms Kuka's failure needed to be given substantial weight."

Wiremu Curtis' appeal against his murder conviction was dismissed last month.

Nia's cousin Michael Pearson, 20 and Michael Curtis' partner Oriwa Kemp, 18, were sentenced in February to three years and three years and four months respectively for wilfully ill treating her.

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