A police officer was punched, stomped on and smashed in the face with his radio in Hawke's Bay this afternoon.

There has been no suggestion that dairy farmer Scott Guy or his wife were followed in the weeks before his murder but investigators would be remiss not to consider the possibility, police said today.

Police have acquired video footage of murdered farmer Scott Guy's wife to determine if she was being followed in the weeks before her husband's death, the Herald has learned.

A former Olympian punched, strangled and repeatedly raped a woman while dragging her through a house, a jury heard today.

Police have eliminated a woman seen giving away puppies from their murder inquiry and want to hear from two motorists.

Today, a court in Cambodia will deliver its verdict on the man who ran Phnom Penh's Tuol Sleng jail.

The family of a man shot dead by a high-powered air rifle is welcoming a policy change that will see all those with such weapons requiring a firearms licence.

Gun killings in NZ have declined the most in an international comparison - even though it has less strict licensing laws than Canada and Australia.

Brad Chapman said he would never forgive Tonya Bennett for setting fire to his Pukekohe home knowing his mother was asleep upstairs.

Police investigating the slaying of farmer Scott Guy are following up reports of a woman trying to give away chocolate coloured Labrador puppies in a Palmerston North car park.

Two Upper Hutt men have been charged with an assault near a Wellington service station last weekend and will appear in court on Wednesday.

An armed gang member is still at large after a fruitless police search in east Hamilton this morning.

A teenager who admitted murdering a mother-of-three by setting her house alight was today jailed for a minimum of 11 and a half years.