NZ at Noon: Grave robbers, poo bums and guitar attack

Amber Gleeson, Nevaeh-Lee Matiu,3, Isabella Troughton,4, and Sangreal Ekins, 3, of Maungaarangi Kindergarten with a gourd that was smashed by vandals. Photo / Joel Ford

Stories making headlines across New Zealand at noon include grave robbers in Wanganui, angry kindy kids in Tauranga and a man smashes a guitar to bits over a woman's head while her distraught children watch on.

Someone worked really hard to steal a brass stag from Graham Dixon's gravestone.

A group of Welcome Bay kindy kids have written to the local paper asking the police to "come and guard our kindy" from the "Poo bum" that vandalised their kindy.

Two children aged 6 and 10 watched in tears as Matthew Hemi Timu smashed a guitar over their mother's head at the start of a crime spree.

Somebody is wandering around Papamoa and Mount Maunganui pretending to be a council staff member.

Paul McKay is upset police did not turn up when he called 111 three times after his wife's car hit a cow and was written off.

Meanwhile newborn twin baby lemurs are snuggling into their mum, Yetta, at Hamilton Zoo

Smokers in Hamilton are very confused.

A Northland woman has been arrested after allegedly buying thousands of dollars' worth of goods with cheques from an account closed three years ago.

The routine flushing of fire hydrants nearly cost a Te Puke man his life.

It's damn hot in Hawke's Bay.

As Katrina Smith left her car and began walking to the front door of the house she cleaned, a dog jumped at her from behind, knocking her to the ground, and biting her face. Warning: Graphic imagery

Elizabeth said the moment the diagnosis came through was heartbreaking. "The GP recommends contact with the hospice ... at that point, your heart sinks and you think 'this is the end'."

A 14-month-old from the Bay of Islands area has died from the Meningococcal B strain.

Students at Waiariki Institute of Technology may not have a student association for much longer.

Preparations for Te Matatini are well under way.

Here's a video of people fighting.

Meanwhile Stratford may just be a little dot on the New Zealand map, but that didn't stop Kim Walsh. Meanwhile the bonnet of his Honda Integra might be dented, but Scott Howatson says "You just have to laugh."

The old boys from Wanganui Collegiate School may not be too happy about this.

Apparently you can't be a pacifist in a currency war.

Over in Wairarapa, there's apparently talk of Utu against the man who seriously bashed Martinborough volunteer firefighter Peter Fisher.

At a typical Toast Martinborough event 9500 litres of wine are guzzled and 30,000 portions of food are gobbled. Meanwhile in a series of unusual coincidences, three fires in less than 24 hours were started by machinery.

Ashburton Police want your help in identifying the three people who feature in this short clip.

Sun Princess will not dock at Port Chalmers today, as scheduled, and no reason has been given.

Waitaki landowners have apparently declared war on poachers.

The top trending topics on Twitter in NZ at noon were: #VNZMA, #janoskiansmtv, HomeBrew, #ASK5SOS, #Mention20PeopleYouWantToMeet, #edchatnz, Halloween, KImbra, Halo 4 and Guy Fawkes.