A young father was stabbed with a steak knife and bitten after he confronted two burglars - both young women - in an incident police say could easily have ended in tragedy.

A woman's trial for murdering a three-year-old boy in her care was abandoned today after four weeks because a key medical witness was too ill to give evidence.

Two years after being found not guilty of murdering his twin sons, Chris Kahui is given permission to move in with his one-year-old daughter.

An eyewitness to an attack on school principal and councillor Hawea Vercoe, told a court his head was kicked like a rugby ball.

A man allegedly used his car to ram an ambulance and police cars before threatening police with a baseball bat on Saturday night, police say.

A 5-year-old and two 6-year-old boys were apprehended by police for sexual assault last year.

One of two teens severely injured in a brutal assault in an Auckland park has spoken for the first time of the night he almost died.

A customer who ran up a $5500 drug debt was kidnapped, beaten and forced to hand over his car by the "heavies" employed to collect the money.

The Government is considering a proposal to limit the sale of knives to young people amid concerns over the number of knife crimes.

A vicious attack on a disabled Canadian tourist in Sydney has made headlines across Canada.