A witness who sold drugs to slain Christchurch sex worker Mellory Manning has described hearing a "blood-curdling" scream coming from the direction of a Mongrel Mob gang pad the night Mellory Manning was killed.

Ngatai 'Mellory' Manning was raped, bashed, and stabbed at a Mongrel Mob gang pad before her mutilated body was dumped in a river, a court has heard today.

The trial of a man charged with the murder of Christchurch prostitute Ngatai 'Mellory' Manning starts today.

The initial trauma may be over but experts say earthquake-weary Christchurch residents will endure at least six years of "man-made" stressors as the region battles bureaucracy.

Serene and beautiful. You'll love this place, writes Elisabeth Easther.

A 20-year-old found guilty of stabbing his friend in the eye outside a Flockton Street party in Christchurch last year will be sentenced today.

A "couch bike" for sale on Trade Me is giving Cantabrians the option of holding red zone tours "without destroying the ozone layer".

'It will be nice to have an apology.' Police are to compensate pensioner John Bennett for the way he was roughed up by armed officers in his own home two years ago.

The fatal plane crash yesterday in Canterbury, which caused a fire so hot it melted the fuselage, was witnessed by glider pilot John McCaw, uncle of All Black Richie McCaw.

Two pilots have died in separate incidents involving gliders in North Canterbury and South Auckland today.

Greg Dixon finds fine food, wonderful views and rusticating luxury at one of New Zealand newest luxury destinations.

Port of Tauranga has continued its national expansion by buying up 15ha of commercial land in Canterbury to create a new inland port.

Journalist Peter Robert Douglas, 35, was wheelchair-bound all his life, but managed to achieve an awful lot in his tiny frame.

A real estate agent has had a charge of serious negligence overturned in the High Court at Auckland, after she challenged a Real Estate Agents Disciplinary Tribunal decision.

Christchurch police have released the name of the skateboarder killed in an accident in Loburn, north of Rangiora, last night.

A three-year jail sentence for a truck driver who targeted and tried to have sex with an 8-year-old girl is "adequate", her grandfather says.

Life is never dull on the road with Grant the Cook, writes Jason Burgess.

The 'red zone' created in the aftermath of Christchurch's earthquakes was legal, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

Canterbury's unique geological setting has led scientists to believe the earthquake sequence it has experienced could likely not happen anywhere else in the world.

Student numbers are expected to increase at the University of Otago next year, turning around three years of declining enrolments at the institution.

Possible further victims of a crooked Christchurch cop are being urged to come forward after the former senior officer admitted sex and corruption charges today.

A Christchurch police officer told a suspected drink driver that any charges would go away if she performed oral sex on him, a court heard today.

A paraponter spent about four hours perched precariously on a ridge with suspected spinal injuries after crashing in a remote Canterbury alpine range this afternoon.