A Canadian woman who faced a possible 10-year prison sentence in northern Thailand for spray-painting an ancient wall has been released with a fine.

Brittney Schneider, 22, was arrested in late October after security footage showed two people spraying graffiti on a wall of The Pae Gate in the city of Chiang Mai.

Schneider and Furlong Lee, of England, were charged with vandalizing registered ancient artifacts, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $40,000.

In an interview with CTV News Channel late Monday, Schneider said the judge originally sentenced her to two years in prison and a fine of roughly $4,000, but the sentence was eventually reduced to just the fine and a one-year suspension instead of the prison term.

“I was super excited and thrilled and I didn’t think it was going to go that way at all, but I’m super happy,” she said.

“(The judge) was super compassionate and I’m so thankful for that.”

Schneider’s mother, Tara Schneider, has been in Thailand to help out with the situation and said the ordeal has been tough on the family back home.

“It’s been so hard,” she said. “It’s been devastating to this whole family.”

Schneider will head back to Canada once her case is brought to immigration officers and she is cleared from a blacklist forbidding her from travelling.

With files from The Canadian Press