A custody dispute turned nasty when a woman was shot in the thigh, causing her to lose her leg.

Aaron Takamore had been the driver of a car which took the gunman to a house in Dixon St, Masterton, on December 2 last year.

Takamore had been released from prison three months before and was a Black Power gang member.

On Friday Justice Susan Thomas at the High Court in Wellington sentenced him to a year's home detention for his part in the shooting.

It was a second strike offence for Takamore. He had pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary after the charge was reduced from attempted murder and discharging a firearm. 

The judge said there had been simmering tensions between the two related groups over custody matters.

Takamore drove two others, Rex Ji Terangi Daley and Tiana Maree Walker-Dahlberg, to the address. They had disguised themselves with bandanas over their faces.

Daley got out of the car and had a shotgun with him.

He was confronted in the street and loaded the gun. He pointed it at a number of people, hit one with the butt of the gun and then shot into the thigh of one woman.

She received life-threatening injuries and had to have her leg amputated. She was now dependent on others, lived in fear and had vivid nightmares, the judge said.

The judge said Takamore had not gotten out of the car and had said he did not know Daley had a shotgun although he knew there was going to be a confrontation.

She outlined Takamore's life of hardship, having been to 11 schools before he was 15, being part of Black Power by the time he was 14 and a father at 19.

In a well-written letter from Takamore, he said he was always going to be Black Power and the gang had been a source of comfort and community to him during a disrupted life.

Now he wanted to leave the gang and try to be a better father.

"You are approaching 30 and need to turn your life around," the judge said.

The other two allegedly involved are still to face trial.