Two women have appeared in Gisborne District Court charged jointly with assaulting Indian national Amandeep Singh - the subject of a homicide inquiry.

A 21-year-old accused of hitting a cyclist after the cyclist gave him the fingers has had his assault charge upgraded.

An entrant in this weekend's Ironman triathlon in Taupo suffered serious injuries in a road-rage attack in which a motorist allegedly chased him down.

A dog came to the rescue of its owner, biting an armed man who was attacking her.

Christchurch police are investigating two unrelated attacks on women over the weekend which they say appear to be sexually motivated.

A Masterton man has appeared in court charged with intentionally causing grievous bodily harm after another man was hospitalised with three stab wounds to his buttocks.

Mana Party MP Hone Harawira has offered to help settle a dispute between three of his nephews and a 12-year-old boy the trio allegedly assaulted.

Three sons of anti-violence campaigner Hinewhare Harawira - and nephews of MP Hone Harawira - are facing charges over an assault on a 12-year-old boy.

A man has been found guilty of the murder of New Zealander Brent Dumper at his daughter's house-warming party on the Gold Coast.

On Monday, November 5 Cissy Chen vanished, and 103 days later police are no closer to finding her.

A Christchurch man was about a millimetre away from losing his sight and five millimetres from being seriously brain damaged.

A man is recovering in hospital after surgery overnight to remove a knife embedded in his head just behind the eyeball.

A 24-year-old student has been found stabbed to death in Half Moon Bay.

A house-warming party fuelled by alcohol and drugs led to a New Zealand man being shot in the back and killed, a Brisbane court has heard.

A boozy celebration on being spared a term of imprisonment will see Michael David McIntyre spend the next 14 months in jail.

Police say it is an "absolute priority" to establish what happened to a teenage girl who says she was assaulted by an officer at an out-of-control party in Howick.

Police say it is too early to speculate over an accusation by a teenager that she was assaulted by police after they closed down an out of control party in Howick.

A 35-year-old Napier woman has been remanded in custody on assault charges after an alleged domestic assault in Napier left a 45-year-old man dead from stab wounds.

The mother of a teen girl says her daughter was assaulted by police, losing her two front teeth, despite co-operating as officers in riot gear cleared a party in Howick.

A man has been charged with attempted murder and sexual violation after a middle-aged woman suffered a "prolonged and serious" assault in Porirua, north of Wellington today.

Police have arrested a man after a 38-year-old woman was found dead in an Invercargill hostel.