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2. Schoolboy wins battle to keep long hair
The long-haired schoolboy who was suspended for refusing to cut his locks has won a High Court battle to keep his long hair.
Year 12 St John's College student Lucan Battison, 16, was suspended for refusing to conform with his principal's wishes and cut his hair last month.
His family challenged the school's decision and took the case to the High Court in Wellington earlier this week.
But now Justice David Collins has ruled in his favour.
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3. Great-aunt gives triplets bright future
At the age of 56, Josephine Poland thought her days changing nappies and wiping noses were over.
But her life changed when she stepped in to take over fulltime care of 18-month-old triplets after they were taken away from their mother, who was suffering from addiction issues. They are now 8 years old and call her Mum.
Ms Poland was one of dozens of caregivers at children's charity Variety's annual Heroes for Kids Luncheon at Mangere's Villa Maria Estate this week. It offers an afternoon of fun and pampering for caregivers.
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4. 'Rotten drunk' mum drives with 2-year-old in car
A young mother must have been ''rotten drunk'' when she drove across town, three times over the legal breath-alcohol limit, with her 2-year-old son in the car, a Dunedin judge said yesterday.
''I don't know what planet you were on, if you think you should celebrate your 2-year-old's birthday by going out and getting paralytically drunk,'' Judge Stephen Coyle told Christina Maree Hart in the Dunedin District Court.
The 26-year-old Dunedin mother and student had a 1357mcg breath-alcohol reading (the adult maximum is 400mcg) when police spoke to her in the driveway of her Halfway Bush home after she had travelled from Highcliff Rd about 8.45am on June 14, prosecutor Sergeant Chris George said.
''At that level, I'm surprised you were even able to get your keys in the car,'' Judge Coyle said. Another driver had called police over concern at the defendant's erratic driving in Portsmouth Dr.
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5. Step-dad stunned at sentences over son's death
A grieving father is stunned at the sentences handed down to three men responsible for his son's death and says nothing has changed for his family.
Stoyan Militch, 32, Michael Zimmerman, 30, and Brayden Windley, 23, were sentenced in the High Court at Palmerston North this morning for their part in the killing of Levin father Michael Les Valentine.
They were each jailed and given their first warning under the three strikes law.
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- nzherald.co.nz, NZ Herald, APNZ
