The man who fired a gun at his ex-wife’s head in June 16, 2012, is going to prison for 10 years.

Sione Mafi Vaioleti, 61, was sentenced in the High Court at Auckland on Friday with a minimum non-parole period of three years and six months for the attempted murder of his former wife.

The Tongan overstayer shot Losaline Fifita, 61, in the head during a domestic dispute.

The court was told Vaioleti had returned from a night drinking with his friends drunk and shouting that Fifita tells him where a stash of money was hidden.

Fifita did not tell him where it was and Vaioleti punched her in the head.

He then retrieved a pistol and brought it into the bedroom, hit the victim in the head and shot her in the jaw.

Fifita survived the shooting but the bullet caused "massive destruction" to her teeth, jaw and became lodged in the back of her neck, Justice Priestley said.

After Vaioleti's sentence is completed, he will be deported back to Tonga