Italian prosecutors pushing for Amanda Knox’s extradition from the US claim they have evidence of her extensive links to cocaine dealers in Perugia, it has been reported.

Murray McCully says it was "good and proper process" for him to leave the case of a Malaysian diplomat accused of sex crimes to authorities for seven weeks.

The former boyfriend of Amanda Knox has cast doubt on her innocence in the murder of the British student Meredith Kercher.

Questions have been raised as to how a woman who threatened to harm her neighbour before later killing her was not formally admitted to a mental health facility earlier.

A man who killed his friend with a punch and then buried him in a shallow grave has had his jail term reduced on appeal.

The sister of the 11-year-old boy who allegedly stabbed a classmate in the head with scissors has complained to the Ministry of Education about the school.

Police investigating the homicide of Wanganui man Brett Hall have arrested and charged a man with his murder.

The family of an 11-year-old boy stabbed with a pair of classroom scissors have forgiven the child police believe was responsible for inflicting the life-threatening injury, a relative says.

Surrounded by five security guards and with his hands cuffed together, prisoner Damian Karl Wereta made no attempt today to escape the courtroom dock.

A grieving father is stunned at the sentences handed to three men responsible for his son's death, while the victim's mother says she wishes the offenders were dead instead.

A hospital chaplain was assaulted with a box cutter and a stick after telling a man attempting to rob his collection boxes, "You can't take God's money".

The child stabbed in the head in a classroom altercation in Mangere hasn't woken from his coma since the incident.

A new report looking at family violence is recommending that a partial defence be introduced for repeat victims who lash out at their abusers.

A 12-year-old boy is facing a new charge of manslaughter over the killing of a west Auckland dairy owner, and his case will now move to the High Court.

The murder of dairy owner Arun Kumar has shocked the central Henderson community. But locals say youth crime in the area has been escalating for months.

Aucklander Tina Helg had no idea that her Greenlane home was the scene of one of New Zealand's most sensational murders.

The key figure in one of the most notorious murders in New Zealand colonial history has been pardoned.

A man accused of assaulting an 8-month-old baby who has since died has been charged with the infant's murder.

A baby boy in Hamilton who was airlifted to Starship Children's hospital with critical injuries on Sunday has died.

A man accused of assaulting an 8-month-old baby has been remanded in custody to reappear tomorrow.

A woman ran to her neighbour's house to find a critically ill baby going purple and his eyes rolling in his head yesterday.

The parents of both boys charged over the death of a dairy owner are in jail or facing active criminal charges.

Slain shopkeeper Arun Kumar was cremated today as hundreds of mourners gathered to remember him.

Angry parents say justice system is protecting boys whose attack after rugby ended their 15-year-old’s life

The grandmother of a 13-year-old charged with murdering Arun Kumar says her thoughts are with the dairy owner's family.

An Auckland teenager has admitted his role in attacking schoolboy Stephen Dudley and will be sentenced in August.

Police will not be drawn on how Wellsford toddler Stevve Lawson received fatal head injuries, or whose custody she was in when she was hurt.

Prime Minister John Key is confident Education Minister Hekia Parata did not hit a staff member, as alleged by Labour MP Trevor Mallard yesterday.

A West Auckland man accused of murdering his wife and daughter will be assessed by a psychiatrist to determine his fitness to stand trial.