Two brothers from the rock-reggae band Kora have been in trouble with police this week.

One of Auckland's top police officers is being investigated by fellow police.

Evidence of how teenager Hayden Miles was cut into 12 pieces before being dumped in two Christchurch graveyards proved too much for one juror yesterday in the murder trial of Gavin John Gosnell.

Stabbing her long-term lover seven times in the back with a peeling knife was an "utterly irrational response" to seeing him with his wife, a judge told Gloria Cherrington.

A Rotorua woman has been sentenced to four months' jail after her pitbull attacked a toddler - "degloving'' the child's forehead.

Those who think the University of Otago has gone too far in tackling problem drinking should study elsewhere, the chairwoman of a group tasked with improving the student drinking culture says.

The man accused of killing a Christchurch teen fantasised about killing a child in foster care just to say he had done it, a former partner told his murder trial today.

A man who visited the Christchurch flat the morning after Hayden Miles died says he can't forget the dead boy's face.

Murder accused Gavin Gosnell asked a neighbour if he'd ever shared a room with a killer around the time teenager Hayden Miles was killed, a court heard today.

The girlfriend of the man accused of murdering Christchurch schoolboy Hayden Miles was threatened with the same fate if she told police.

The man accused of bashing teenager Hayden Miles to death also tried to break his arms and legs on the night of the attack, the alleged murderer's ex-girlfriend says.

A judge slammed New Zealand's binge drinking culture as he sentenced a promising league player to nine years in jail for a "brutal" alcohol-fuelled attack.

EXPLICIT CONTENT WARNING. The grisly details emerged on the opening day of the High Court trial of Gavin John Gosnell, 28, who denies murdering 15-year-old Hayden Miles.

Christchurch teenager Hayden Miles was killed before he was dismembered and buried at two city cemeteries, a court heard today. (Explicit content warning)

A 26-year-old man has been hospitalised with stab wounds after being attacked by a group of youths on Friday night.

The family of murdered teenager Emily Longley are preparing to return to London for her killer's appeal, hoping it will bring some closure to the nightmare.

An 18-year-old was stabbed in the chest in the early hours of this morning by a man who was wielding a meat cleaver and a kitchen knife.

On Thursday night, while Jesse Ryder lay in intensive care in Christchurch Hospital after a savage and apparently random beating that has left him fighting for his life, I drove home from work just after midnight.

The man charged with murdering pregnant woman Rae Portman has pleaded not guilty, and will face trial later this year.

A New Zealand man accused of a horrific attack on a sex worker in Canada could serve time in a New Zealand jail if he is convicted and extradited.

A man charged with a horrific sex attack in Canada cut off his electronic bracelet and fled New Zealand on a false passport while on bail.