A 64-year-old man is in a serious condition in Hawke's Bay Hospital's intensive care unit after apparently being run down by a charging sheep on a farm property near Waipukurau on Tuesday afternoon.
Paramedics who attended to the man believe he had been helping draft a mob of sheep when one may have charged at him, knocking him to the ground.
While the full extent of his injuries was not available, it is understood he suffered a dislocated hip.
The alarm was raised by others working at the Omakere property and the decision was made to have the man airlifted out.
The man convicted of killing and sexually violating his stepdaughter is due to be sentenced at High Court in Napier today.
Despite pleading guilty last July to a charge of manslaughter, Kerry Charles Ratana, 25, denied sexually violating his former partner's 5-year-old daughter Sahara Jayde Baker-Koro in their Onekawa flat in 2010.
On March 14 this year a jury took two hours to reach the verdict on which another jury was hung at the end of the first trial in November, 2011.
Hawke's Bay's talented "young and the restless" are being invited to the Taradale RSA this coming Sunday to audition for a major musical talent quest. Entries for the talent quest, which is being run in two age group categories, will close at 4pm on Sunday, with auditions getting under way 30 minutes later. Organising committee spokesman Clive Weir said the talent quest was open to "the young" aged from 10 to 17, and "the restless" from 18 upwards.
The contest will start at the RSA on May 2 from 6pm.
Anyone wishing to support the quest, and anyone wanting to give their musical talents an airing, can contact the Taradale Club on 844 4808.
Spamalot feeds demand
Monty Python's Spamalot has proved a hit with Hawke's Bay audiences with the two-week season virtually selling out just days after the show opened on April 19. Napier Operatic Society ticketing manager Dale Reid said meal performances at the Tabard Restaurant Theatre had sold out and there were only a few seats available for this Tuesday's coffee night.
Because of the huge response to the multi Tony Award winning musical, the society had decided to stage an extra matinee at 2pm on the final Saturday, May 5. For tickets see www.ticketdirect.co.nz.