A 20-year-old man accused of sexual assaults at a Labour Party summer camp has pleaded not guilty and been granted name suppression. 

The man was arrested earlier this month and appeared in the Auckland District Court on Thursday facing six charges of indecent assault relating to four complainants. 

The arrest came after allegations a man sexually assaulted four teenagers, aged 16 to 18 years old, during the Waihi camp in February. 

"I went way over board this time."

That was the text Avi Raaj Prasad sent after his 8-year-old victim's skin peeled away - it was the final act in abuse the Crown called "cruel and sadistic".

The boy had suffered burns to about 20 per cent of his body after being held under a hot shower on March 25 last year.

That included burns to his chest and abdomen, right upper arm, both upper thighs and bottom.

An Auckland man has appeared in court for allegedly injuring a High Court judge.

James Lawrence Beaumont Gilliland has been charged with injuring a woman "with reckless disregard for the safety of others".

The alleged victim is Justice Mary Peters, who is a judge at the High Court in Auckland.

A man who brutally beat his 69-year-old neighbour to death and then, as she lay dying and unresponsive, sexually assaulted her twice, has been unsuccessful in his bid to appeal his sentence.

A man who admitted burning evidence in an incinerator to help his murder-accused brother in-law "got lucky" when his conviction was quashed today after a jury found there was legally no murder, says a law professor.

Three prisoners who violently attacked their guards will spend an extra three and a half years in jail.

The national triennial bun-fight is upon us, with parties being thrown in homes across the country as the votes are counted. But how do you avoid political arguments and other potential vibe-killers on the night? Keep it lighthearted and inclusive, our party planners say.

A 29-year-old Auckland man has been jailed for more than six years after plying a 14-year-old girl with alcohol before sexually assaulting her in an attack he planned with the girl's mother.

The judge, sentencing him said he exploited the trust between mother and daughter.

A High Court judge has taken the self-admitted "extraordinary step" to suppress details of a murder case, despite saying "the public has a right to know".

The Herald can report that a man appeared at the High Court in Auckland today and entered a plea to a charge relating to a murder.

The man who brutally beat his 69-year-old neighbour to death and then, as she lay dying and unresponsive, sexually assaulted her twice, has appealed his life sentence.

On May 26 Jaden Lee Stroobant was sentenced to preventive detention and life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years for his "callous and depraved" crimes.

He had earlier pleaded guilty to murdering the 69-year-old Cunxiu Tian in her family home in January last year.