Court

Drug dealers have been warned the "heinous nature" of methamphetamine will earn them long spells in prison, with the first life sentence being handed out for manufacturing the drug.

The man accused of murdering Auckland hairdresser Marie Jamieson eight years ago has been committed to stand trial.

With gasps and tears, family and friends heard the two not guilty verdicts in the trial of a 24-year-old man charged with injuring a 17-month-old toddler.

Police have named a man who disappeared the week before he was due to stand trial for the supply of more than $2 million worth of methamphetamine.

A truck driver charged in connection with the death of a senior police officer pleaded not guilty in Lower Hutt District Court today.

The jury has retired in a trial in which the Crown says a man shook or slammed a 17-month-old toddler but the defence accuses the girl's mother of being "a liar motivated by self-preservation".

A New Zealand Army lieutenant colonel was demoted to major and severely reprimanded today for indecently assaulting a female officer on a training course in which he was chief instructor.

A 36-year-old mother who had sex with an under-age boy has been allowed to keep her interim name suppression for the sake of her two daughters.

A Tauranga man has admitted encouraging his partner's 12-year-old son to light a "small" early morning fire at a Greerton play centre.

A Sydney teenager who cannot remember raping an 82-year-old woman in broad daylight after a drunken night out will spend at least three years in jail.