Stories by Edward Gay

It had all the makings of a movie: a 400kg diamante-encrusted horse head, 35kg of cocaine, and people nicknamed 'the Godfather', 'the Artist' and 'the Technician'.

A prisoner who says he was raped by his cellmate is suing the Department of Corrections for what a lawyer said was hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The trial of a prisoner accused of raping three of his cellmates has begun in the High Court in Auckland.

A father cocked a loaded shotgun, pointed it at his 2-year-old daughter - who was as close as 30 centimetres away - and pulled the trigger, the Crown says.

A life-long friend of the father accused of shooting his daughter with a shotgun says he tried to fire the gun up to six times into the ground but the gun wouldn't fire.

Fifteen prisoners have complained of being sexually assaulted in the past seven years, but a victims advocate says the true figure could be many times that. Audio

Michelle Kidd has been described as the woman who brings humanity to the court, when all humanity is gone.

The first police officers to arrive at the scene of the shooting of an Auckland toddler have told a court they heard her father say 'I shot her' multiple times.

The partner of a man accused of shooting his two year-old daughter in the face with a shotgun has told the court she was desperate to hug her child after the incident.

Eight-month-old Isaiah Neil died after being left in a hot car for three hours, while his parents and grandmother smoked synthetic cannabis and went to sleep.

A teenager who went on an Auckland-wide crime spree that included car-jacking a woman and leaving her hospitalised has been jailed.

The coroner thanked Christie Marceau's parents who gave evidence and sat through two weeks of testimony from 20 witnesses on the death of their 18-year-old daughter.

The mother of Akshay Chand says she just wanted her son home on bail and had no idea that he would kill Christie Marceau.

The Ministry for Vulnerable Children left a teenager with a pre-existing brain injury in police cells for three nights because they could not find him a suitable bed.

The psychiatrist who assessed Akshay Chand before he was released on bail and killed Christie Marceau has told an inquest that Chand was extraordinarily deceptive.

The prosecutor in court when Akshay Chand was granted bail has confirmed she didn't alert the judge that his address was two minutes' walk from the victim's home.

The detective who had to tell the Marceau family that their daughter's kidnapper was out on bail has become emotional while recalling the meeting in court.

Former Conservative Party head Colin Craig has filed papers in the High Court in Auckland to sue his former press secretary Rachel MacGregor for defamation.

One of the men charged with importing 35kg of cocaine hidden inside a jewel encrusted horse's head says he was not making ends meet and his greed got the better of him.

Colin Craig and Cameron Slater's lawyer spent much of their closing addresses arguing about the nature of the relationship at the centre of the case.

A notorious prisoner who threatened a guard with a shank has been sentenced to a further 21 months in prison, but it will not result in a longer sentence. Audio

Jaden Lee Stroobant, who was 19 when he sexually violated a 69-year-old woman in her home before murdering her, has been jailed for at least 17 years.

A repeat sex offender who sexually abused his young prison cellmate will have to prove he is no longer a risk to the community before he is released.