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.

On Friday morning, Julie-Ann Torrance wiped away tears as the High Court in Auckland heard how she helped brutally torture and kidnap an Auckland teenager. 

She sat alongside Nicola Jones and Wayne Blackett who had also played a part of the crime that became known as 'The Dome Valley case'. 

The trio were all handed down jail terms exceeding 10 years.

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 been sentenced to preventive detention and life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years for his "callous and depraved" crimes.

A man has been cleared of family violence charges after a lengthy retrial in Hamilton.

The jury found the man, who has permanent name suppression to protect the identity of his children, not guilty on seven charges in the Hamilton District Court today.

Claims of headlocks, threats to life and assaults on children are at the centre of a trial involving a prominent couple.

Crown prosecutor Geraldine Kelly told a jury in her opening submissions at the Hamilton District Court this morning, the couple presented themselves as "the perfect type of family" that some people thought "lived the perfect lifestyle".

An Auckland mother-of-two has been sentenced to home detention for her role in the group kidnapping of a woman who died trying to escape. 

Cecilia Hansen, 30, appeared in front of Justice Murray Gilbert at the High Court at Auckland on Wednesday having plead guilty to the kidnapping of Jindarat Prutsiriporn. 

The man who murdered and sexually violated elderly Te Atatu woman Cunxiu Tian was released from prison 38 days before her brutal death.

Jaden Lee Stroobant on Wednesday pleaded guilty to murdering the 69-year-old in her home on January 15 last year.