The family of an Auckland man killed as he intervened in an attack five years ago have called on Kiwis to live up to his legacy.

The funeral for Bradley and Ellen Livingstone today was more akin to a festival of celebration, as family, friends and pupils dressed in bright colours as a tribute to Ellen, known for her 'quite out there' fashion sense.

A service to remember slain Dunedin children Bradley and Ellen Livingstone tomorrow will be a bright and colourful celebration of their lives.

Most cases of domestic violence involve physical or sexual abuse; but increasingly, that abuse is preceded or accompanied by psychological abuse as well, writes Bryan Gould.

The mother of three-year-old Mikaeel Kular has appeared in court today charged with the boy's murder, prosecutors said.

A woman believed to be the mother of missing Mikaeel Kular has been charged in connection with his death after the three-year-old's body was discovered in Fife.

The BBC will be plunged into a fresh crisis with a damning review that reveals staff ignored the rape and sexual assault of up to 1000 boys by Jimmy Savile.

Forensic results are due this week from a mysterious death at a hospital where a woman may have been intentionally poisoned.

An emotional Judith Collins has revealed her personal pain at the loss of a cousin, murdered when her husband breached a protection order.

Authorities missed many red flags before Bradley and Ellen Livingstone were killed by their father in their Dunedin home.

A New Plymouth district councillor has taken down a video of an altercation involving roadside window washers.

St John is considering installing security cameras in its ambulances after one of its paramedics was assaulted in a staged attack.

The start of 2014 has seen a tragic, but sadly predictable discussion around Australia about lives lost or hanging in the balance due to violence.

A crackdown on drunken violence in Sydney was a factor in the two-year jail sentence handed to former Warriors prop Russell Packer for an assault conviction.

The wife of a man accused of bashing his teen daughter, then forcing her to hide her injuries behind a burqa, denies failing to seek medical attention for the girl.

A father has denied criminal charges laid over allegations he beat his daughter and then imprisoned her at home to hide her injuries, which included a broken nose and broken tooth.

"I stood up and then bang, (Packer) hit me straight away." The young man assaulted by NRL player Russell Packer has spoken exclusively to the Herald.

A teenager has been arrested after a man was stabbed in the stomach in Central Auckland early yesterday.

A witness who saw the injuries inflicted on a pair of teenaged tourists says one of them was barely recognisable after the Boxing Day attack.

Four teenagers charged over a vicious attack on two German tourists will remain behind bars until their next court appearance.

Police have been overwhelmed by a nationwide outpouring of support for two young German campers beaten and robbed in an "appalling and mindless" attack yesterday.

A 32-year-old Taupo man is to appear in the Rotorua District Court tomorrow (Friday) over a family violence incident in Waitahanui.

A man is yet to emerge from a coma after being hit on the head by a beer jug after intervening in a drunken argument at a Hamilton pub on Friday night.

A Nelson man has been arrested and charged with hitting another man over the head with a spade.

Australian entertainer Rolf Harris is facing three additional sex assault charges involving two new alleged victims, one aged "seven or eight" at the time.