A 27-year-old naval rating has been charged with the manslaughter of a trainee primary school teacher.

A former Iraqi soldier who murdered his wife in Wellington by stabbing her 55 times has had his latest appeal against his sentence turned down.

Murdered woman Rae Portman was mixed up in a "man's world" she should have stayed out of, a High Court jury heard today.

A mother of two suffered a violent attack at her Wellington home and could have lain dead for days before her body was found, police say.

A homicide investigation has been launched after the body of a 37-year-old woman, described by neighbours as "bubbly" was found in a Wellington suburb.

A string of attacks on the elderly has prompted an appeal to support one of society's most vulnerable groups.

The country's top cop has conceded police could have gone public about the Roast Busters scandal earlier.

An angel on a very fast motorcycle ... that's how a friend described student Tarun Asthana who died after being assaulted in Auckland last week.

An elderly couple were assaulted and tied up in a brutal home invasion in Pukekohe last night.

Several witnesses have reported seeing a man who matches the description of a suspect wanted wanted in relation to the attack and sexual violation of an 87-year-old woman.

Hello Sailor frontman Graham Brazier will be personally monitored by a District Court judge for 18 months to ensure he exorcises his alcohol demons.

Hello Sailor frontman Graham Brazier has been sentenced to intensive supervision and community work for assaulting his former and current partners.

A 27-year-old has appeared in court in connection with an attack on a trainee primary teacher who died in Auckland hospital this morning.

Hamilton residents are being advised to check their home security following a series of intruder incidents in the east of the city on Sunday.

The trial of two men accused of being involved in the kidnap and murder of Hamilton woman Rae Portman continues in the High Court at Auckland this morning.

The mother of a young man brutally assaulted in central Auckland was by his bedside last night praying for a miracle, but had already forgiven his attacker.

A 27-year-old man has been arrested over a brutal assault in Central Auckland which left a trainee teacher on life support.

A trainee teacher on life support after a brutal assault in central Auckland is being described by friends as a kind and gentle person.

A key Crown witness against two men charged with the kidnap and murder of Hamilton woman Rae Portman has denied killing her himself.

A man convicted of taking part in the kidnap of Rae Portman says he was threatened to go along with the plan by the man accused of her murder.

"He said he had buried something from a previous job." A witness continues giving evidence in the kidnap and murder trial of Hamilton woman Rae Portman.

A man currently serving time in prison for kidnapping a Hamilton woman has told a High Court trial he had no idea she was destined to be killed.

On the few occasions the quiet and self-effacing Bijan Ebrahimi ventured outside his drab council maisonette on the outskirts of Bristol.