A "desperate" mother unable to cope with both her children murdered her 13 month-old baby son by leaving him alone to drown in a deep bath, the Auckland High Court has heard.

Three people have been arrested after two police officers were punched, kicked and bitten as they tried to break up a domestic incident.

Detectives are trying to piece together the secret life of a police officer who was stabbed to death in his home last weekend.

The American mother of three children who were found dead in an Edinburgh house faces criminal charges, police said.

The teacher stabbed by a Korean student at Avondale College has been criticised in an inquiry into the incident.

It's the $6400 question - would anyone commit murder to steal a litter of chocolate Labrador puppies?

Broke and desperate, Tania Aziz devised a plan to seriously injure her boss. With him in hospital, she could take over his kebab shop lease.

Shock-jock Michael Laws went head to head with David Bain supporter Joe Karam on the Bain family murders this morning.

Four police officers beating a young man with batons and pepper-spraying him 65 times was "unnecessary, unreasonable, and unjustified", the IPCA has found.

A 52-year-old man charged with the murder of a Wellington woman found beaten to death in her Newtown flat last week has been remanded in custody.

An autopsy in Bali has established that wounds inflicted on NZ surfer Jordan Lucas's face, hands and body would have killed him.

The lawyer of a former NZ Olympian says he is pleased with two not guilty verdicts on charges of raping and assaulting his wife, but wouldn't comment on the possibility of a retrial.

A former girlfriend of murdered New Zealander Jordan Lucas says he was a generous, mellow man.

Family members of a NZ surfer found dead on a surf beach in Bali are on their way to Indonesia and are being helped by the NZ consulate there.