Michelle Hoffman-Tamm's tragic death after going missing on a bike ride will touch people from many walks of life, says her sister Jan Donlan.

Medical staff say it is too dangerous to operate on a teenage boy after he was stabbed in the face with a screwdriver in Wanganui - reportedly for wearing a blue hat.

Police have released a photograph of a man they believe followed a woman off a train in West Auckland and viciously assaulted her.

Gate crashers stormed a family barbecue, smashing car windows, causing three people to be hospitalised and sparking and armed offenders call-out.

A woman who fought off an attacker at an Auckland train station last night is being praised by police for her "gutsy display".

A tip-off by a suspicious Bunnings employee led to the discovery of a Rotorua drug manufacturing operation, a court has heard.

A Whangarei father has been arrested after police say he slapped his two-year-old daughter several times because she wouldn't shut up and kept demanding her bottle.

The man accused of killing security guard Charanpreet Dhaliwal will go to trial to defend the charge of murder.

An 18-year-old woman was punched in the face during what appeared to be a random attack in the Masterton McDonald's carpark early yesterday.

A former international footballer has been sentenced to nine months of home detention for assaulting a referee during an Anzac Day match in Auckland.

A man who subjected his newborn baby to months of torture, including biting through her earlobe, will not spend any time in prison.

Two men are facing assault charges after a late-night fight outside a Lower Hutt service station left a man in a critical condition.

A bill tightening bail laws for killers and repeat offenders is being toughened by making it harder for 18- and 19-year-olds to avoid custody.

A dangerous prisoner who bit his partner badly on the cheek and was granted bail to attend his son's funeral has disappeared.