A mother convicted of killing her daughter in 2001 has chosen to rejoin an appeal against the conviction, which her husband has been fighting for the last two years.

Maatkari Tamerry, and her husband Amenemhat Waset AmenRa Tamerry, were convicted in June 2004 of the manslaughter of their ten-month-old daughter A-Maya, who died of malnutrition in 2001.

She was sentenced to one year in jail, with three years of probation, and was released in March 2005. He was sentenced to five years in prison.

Yesterday, defence lawyer Craig Attridge told the Court of Appeal that his client, Mrs. Tamerry wished to withdraw an earlier abandonment of appeal. Appeal Court President Justice Edward Zacca said that was fine as long as Mr. Attridge was ready to begin the appeal next week.

Mr. Tamerry's lawyer, Patricia Harvey, also requested that copies of tissue samples, X-rays, blood work and other medical records used by Crown experts during the trial be released so that a UK based forensic pathologist can examine them.

Ms Harvey said that at the original trial Mr. Tamerry had instructed his then lawyer, Mark Pettingill, to contact the British pathologist and have him examine the evidence ? but that Mr. Pettingill ignored his client's wishes and chose not to contact the doctor.

Mr. Justice Zacca said that was something that would have to be put to Mr. Pettingill as he may wish to respond to the allegation but said that the documents could be disclosed and tissue specimens could be sent to the UK hospital for examination.

He reiterated that the appeal ? which has been adjourned on numerous occasions since March 2005 ? would go forward next week no matter what. The couple's daughter, A-Maya, died in hospital on March 1, 2001, due to her severe state of dehydration and malnutrition. She died exactly ten months after she was born on May 1, 2000.

In the trial the court heard that in the first weeks after A'Maya's birth the parents constantly skipped weigh-in sessions at their home with Government nurses, and rejected paediatrician Dr. Alexander Barron's advice that their daughter would die if she did not gain weight. The paediatrician reported them to Child and Family Services who in turn requested an emergency 28 day care order to remove the child from their care. It was never executed.

CFS stopped its involvement with the case at the end of June 2000 when A'Maya came under the care of paediatrician Dr. June Hill. They also skipped appointments with Dr. Hill.

Government Forensic Pathologist John Obafunwa told the court at the trial, that the baby had a catalogue of ailments resulting from malnutrition and dehydration and that he had never seen a baby so malnourished in Bermuda.

At their sentencing Chief Justice Richard Ground said: "This case is all the more tragic because I have no doubt that both parents deeply loved this child, and did not intend to harm it.

"Nevertheless, there can be no doubt from the medical evidence that they let it starve to death in front of their eyes. To the extent that it has been said that the loss of their child is itself a sufficient punishment for them, I am bound to say that the psychiatric and social inquiry reports reveal that neither of them yet seems to accept their own responsibility for its death ...

"Having heard the evidence and read the psychiatric reports, I think that what happened was that the mother, perhaps projecting her own anorexic tendencies onto the child, failed to feed it adequately, and that the father, blinded by his own stubborn wrong-headedness, failed to seek medical help."

The appeal is expected to start on March 20.