Fraser Milne was jailed in July 2019 for the road rage attack.

A man jailed for pursuing a Chinese Kiwi family in a prolonged road chase should serve more time in prison because the attack was racially-motivated, the Crown says.

Fraser Milne was jailed for two years and six months by Justice Sally Fitzgerald in July, over the pursuit south of Auckland, which led to children being thrown from the car, leaving one with a cracked skull.

He pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and four charges of injuring with reckless disregard to safety.

On Monday at the Court of Appeal, Crown Law lawyer Charlotte Brook said the sentence was "manifestly inadequate" and claimed Justice Sally Fitzgerald gave excessive discounts to Milne.

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The attack happened on the afternoon of March 4, 2018, when the family of four and a friend were on their way to go blueberry picking in Awhitu Peninsula in south Auckland.

STUFF At Fraser Milne's sentencing, Justice Sally Fitzgerald disagreed with the Crown that it was a racially motivated attack.

The family are originally from China but have called New Zealand home for 18 years.

Milne, from Paeroa, was driving in the opposite direction, over the speed limit.

As the vehicles approached each other on a hill, Milne believed the other car had crossed to his side of the road.

Milne swerved to avoid the other car and drove into a drain and struck a fence, causing minor damage to his vehicle.

This led to a high-speed chase and racist comments being made against the family.

Eventually, Milne rammed the complainants' car, which hit a bank at speed and flipped in the air.

Two of the children, then aged 12 and 10, were thrown from the car during the crash. The 10-year-old's skull was fractured.

RYAN ANDERSON/STUFF Mark Ryan acted on behalf of Fraser Milne at his sentencing and at the Court of Appeal.

All five complainants were hospitalised and suffered moderate injuries.

The court previously heard the family were extremely scared of Milne and feared he would find them and kill them.

Milne told police he wanted to get the victims deported and thought they were part of the Asian mafia.

He told police he felt like killing the driver and he just wanted to "grab his neck and strangle him".

Milne told police he intentionally drove into the family and thought, "this is it", and "if they wanna kill me, let them kill me".

At the appeal hearing, Brook said Justice Fitzgerald declined to take into account the fact the offending, "at least in part", was due to Milne's hostility towards the victims' race.

"There can be no dispute that his hostility towards the victims were because they were of Asian descent," Brook said.

Brook said Justice Fitzgerald "downplayed" Milne's actions and said there could be "no dispute Mr Milne holds racist views".

At sentencing, Crown prosecutor Jasper Rhodes said it was lucky no-one died in the crash and submitted it was a racially motivated attack.

But Justice Fitzgerald disagreed, saying "it would be quite wrong" to describe the incident as a hate crime, although she did acknowledge racial comments Milne made to police and the family were "abhorrent".

Mark Ryan, acting on behalf of Milne, rejected the claim the attack was racially motivated and said Milne would have "fired up" regardless of who was in the car.

"This was a young 20-year-old who became irate when he perceived someone drove him off the road and damaged his father's car."

"He acted appallingly, atrociously and the result is he is serving a time in prison to mark his offending," Ryan told the appeal hearing.

Crown Law appealed Milne's sentence at the Court of Appeal in front of Justice Forrie Miller, Justice Simon Moore and Justice Robert Dobson. The judges reserved their decision.