A fifth birthday party finished with a gang brawl and eight arrests in Hastings last night.

The wife of the hunter who killed school teacher Rosemary Ives has made an impassioned plea for the public not to judge him, but says he will accept a prison term if one is imposed.

Mandatory reporting would have saved children like young James Whakaruru.

The slain Kahui twins' grandfather today admitted lying to police to protect his son Chris, an inquest into the twins' deaths has heard.

George Baker is an evil man and should only be let out of prison in a coffin, says the father of the teenager he killed four years ago.

Convicted double murderer David Tamihere, who is soon to be released, deserved a retrial years ago, says his broadcaster brother John.

Radio Live host John Tamihere has defended the innocence of his brother, soon-to-be-released convicted double murderer David Tamihere, on his radio show today.

A Tauranga drug dealer who shot another man in the leg with a cut-down rifle and was also caught with 18 cannabis 'tinnies' inside a coffin in his lounge, has been sentenced to 10 months' home detention.

A driver accused of deliberately swerving into a woman's oncoming car has been cleared of her murder. Faaotaota Faaotaota was instead convicted of manslaughter, a charge he had admitted.

David Tamihere could have given his victims' families closure by revealing Heidi Paakkonen's body, a key witness in the case says.

A man who disturbed burglars was attacked and left with head injuries and an officer injured when he later tried to arrest a suspect.

A Scotland Yard detective is in trouble for allegedly inserting song titles into his evidence.

David Tamihere, who was convicted of the murder of two Swedish backpackers, has been granted parole after serving nearly 20 years in prison and will be released on November 15.

A hunter who has admitted causing the death of Rosemary Ives says he doesn't feel he deserves to ever be happy again.

The man who bashed James Whakaruru repeatedly until he died, aged 4, will spend Christmas a free man - despite fears he will reoffend.