Family, friends of Vogue Elers outraged by decision about Tamarah Eaton's sentence for drowning death in Hunter

The devastated parents of a little girl who drowned in a Hunter river while kayaking with a drunk woman have had their hearts "shattered even more" after finding out the woman responsible for her death will walk free in a year.

Four-year-old Vogue Elers was a "bright light" to all who knew her.

She was being looked after by a relative in June 2021 when they went to meet up with her carer's friend, and then 35-year-old Tamarah Eaton, at the Karuah River.

Vogue ended up in a kayak with Eaton, a woman she did not know, who had been drinking heavily.

Vogue and a dog that was with the pair drowned after the kayak flipped, in an accident that sent shockwaves through her Newcastle community.

Eaton was already serving a 10-month intensive corrections order for high-range drink driving when she took the little girl out in the kayak, without lifejackets, on the protected waterway.

Eaton pleaded guilty to aggravated dangerous navigation causing death and was sentenced to two-and-a-half years' jail with 18 months non-parole last year.

A Crown appeal in the state's highest court was dismissed on Wednesday, confirming Eaton will spend 18 months behind bars.

Vogue's mother Brooke Elers was too distressed to speak to media, but told the Newcastle Herald in a statement her family was in disbelief.

"This is not justice," she said.

"This has handed me, my husband, and our four other children, plus our extended family and friends, and whole community, a life sentence.

"The ripple effect extends far and wide, Vogue's bright light touched so many people from all different walks of life."

Close family friend Kirra Martin told the Herald loved ones were trying to wrap their heads around the outcome, which marked the end of a traumatic two-year legal battle.

"They're still in a state of shock, I feel like when they process it, I just don't know how they're going to accept what's happening," she said.

"This has just destroyed them as a family - individually and as a group."

Ms Martin said Vogue's parents had been inundated with messages of support.

"It's amazing, but it also shows how far it goes, how much it affects our community in Newcastle," she said.

"The gravity of it has affected so many people for the rest of their lives."

Ms Martin said it was "unjust" that Vogue's short but full life was reduced to 18 months in prison, even if Eaton carried what happened with her forever.

"If that's all she has to carry, it's not enough ... it's not comparable to the weight her family will carry for the rest of their lives," Ms Martin said.

"You want to have compassion for people, but people also need to be held accountable for their actions, and that hasn't happened here."

The judgment came less than a week after the two-year anniversary of Vogue's death on June 1, 2021.

Ms Martin said while the appeal dismissal was a "kick in the guts", it wasn't the end of the fight.

"We're not going to accept it and we're not going to let it go," she told the Herald.

She said creating change in Vogue's name would be a priority.

The Court of Criminal Appeal (CCA) decision confirmed the sentence Eaton was handed in Newcastle District Court in December. She will be eligible for release in June next year.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had argued the district court judge erred in his assessment of the objective seriousness of the offending, and that the sentence was "manifestly inadequate".

The three judges of the CCA found the district court judge had incorrectly used Eaton's deprived background and mental health issues to lower the criminality of her actions, but did not change her sentence.

"While I accept ... this had a substantial and profound impact on her moral culpability, I am unable to accept that it impacted on the objective criminality of her conduct and its consequences," Justice Peter Hamill wrote.

But, he said he was not satisfied the sentence was inadequate.

"It is not plainly wrong, unreasonable or unjust," he wrote.

He accepted Vogue's family and friends would think otherwise.

"It is an intensely sad case," he wrote.

An Indigenous woman struggling with mental health, alcoholism and trauma at the time, Eaton was with a group at Mallabula Point on June 1, 2021, and had consumed a large amount of vodka when she was paired up with Vogue in a kayak.

At some point between 1.36pm and 1.58pm, while others left to get lunch, Eaton was trying to navigate back to shore after paddling 900 metres from the jetty, when the kayak overturned.

Vogue drowned, while Eaton managed to make it back to shore.

Eaton later recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.250, five times the legal limit.

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