A quake measuring 4.0 on the Richter scale was felt across Napier last night.

Napier police are hunting a "skinny" Maori man wearing dark pants and a blue hoodie after a dairy owner was stabbed this morning.

Maka Renata, a sex offender who was coached to stalk and rape by his uncle is on the run after breaching his parole conditions a second time.

A 3-year-old boy was bitten by a police dog in front of more than 30 children during a kindergarten visit.

Winz staff told a woman with a university bachelor degree to "dumb down" her CV before applying for jobs.

A Napier man has been jailed after scamming more than $51,000 from Trade Me users, the biggest fraud by an individual to hit the website.

The day he died, Senior Constable Len Snee started work early, jogging past Jan Molenaar's house at dawn to conduct a final reconnaissance.

A steel chest plate and Kevlar-type body armour made from a motorcycle jacket protected Jan Molenaar during the Napier seige, an inquest heard.

A coroner believes police could not have known how Jan Molenaar was going to react.

The police officers shot by Napier gunman Jan Molenaar did not take all possible precautions but could not have known how Molenaar was going to react, according to Coroner David Crerar.

Jan Molenaar asked police negotiators during his two-day shooting siege to let one of his childhood friends into his Napier house

A police inspector speaking at the inquest into the Napier gun seige said he believed it would end in a suicide or "suicide by police."