“I wouldn’t wish what happened to me on my worst enemy,” Malcolm King says.

There are reports Ford Rd, in Rotorua’s Fordlands, has been blocked at both ends.

A world-first trial for a drug that researchers hope could slow the progression of motor neurone disease is being run in Melbourne.

For patients living with MND such as Greg Levin, news of the human trial provided much-needed hope.

The small trial is set to open by next year to eligible Australians with ALS, a common type of MND.

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Levin was diagnosed with motor neurone disease at just 63 years old.

"I was at work and I couldn't pick things up from my desk with my arms," he said.

"It's just shattering.

"For a couple of months at least we couldn't function. We were just totally flawed."

While there is no cure or treatment for MND, American company Spinogenix has developed a drug that is showing promise.

They tested the drug SPG302 on mice and found it slowed the progression of symptoms, especially for those with ALS.

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It was also found to prolong life span,by restoring broken neuron connections in the brain.

"It's a pill that you take once a day in the hope that we can restore walking, memory and breathing," Spinogenix chief executive Stella Sarraf said.

"As well, what's most remarkable is that it increased the life span."

The company will recruit 112 patients in Melbourne to test how the drug affects their symptoms.

"The more things we can trial the better," Levin said.

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A former BHP worker has been jailed for more than five years after raping a colleague at a mining camp after a night of heavy drinking.

Ryan John Zabaznow, 37, was found guilty in May of sexual penetration without consent in Newman in Western Australia's Pilbara region on November 18, 2020.

His victim told the WA District Court she woke up to find Zabaznow raping her after she passed out inside her donga.

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He denied it and said his Facebook messages showed the encounter was consensual but the jury disagreed after deliberating for about four hours.

Outside court after Zabaznow's sentencing on Monday, the woman said she was proud her story sparked a parliamentary inquiry into sexual assault and harassment within the WA fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) industry.

"And that it was my voice that spoke for fellow FIFO workers within the industry that felt ashamed alone and too scared to come forward at the time," she told reporters.

"That man not only took away my happiness and my happy-go-lucky personality with what he did, but he took away my career, my goals and my aspirations."

The court was told the pair had been drinking with other FIFO workers at the camp's bar before the assault and continued socialising when it closed.

Zabaznow and the woman shared an intimate conversation about their past relationships before drinking outside the woman's donga with other colleagues.

As the night wore on the woman, who said she drank about 15 mid-strength beers, started to feel unwell.

A friend put her to bed after she vomited and she passed out.

The jury heard Zabaznow entered the woman's room and climbed into her bed after her friend left the scene.

The woman told the jury she woke while Zabaznow was raping her.

She said she was initially not sure what was happening and started to cry.

The attack stopped when two other workers heard "sex noises and moaning" and knocked on the woman's door to check if she was OK.

They found Zabaznow in the woman's bed.

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BHP said in May it took "courage and bravery" for the woman to speak out about her "traumatic" experience and the company continued to support her.

"Sexual violence is completely unacceptable and has no place in our communities or in our workplaces," a spokeswoman said.

"At BHP, we are determined to eliminate it from our workplaces and we are committed to creating a culture that is safe, inclusive and respectful at all times."

BHP sacked Zabaznow in December 2020 after an internal investigation.

Zabaznow was sentenced to five years and two months' jail and must serve three years before being eligible for parole.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

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Homicide detectives are still trying to work out if a suspected mushroom poisoning, which killed three people, is suspicious or not.

Heather Wilkinson, a local teacher; her sister, Gail Patterson; and Patterson's husband Don Patterson all died after eating toxic wild mushrooms in Leongatha Victoria's Gippsland region on July 29.

A fourth person, Reverend Ian Wilkinson, who is a pastor at Korumburra Baptist Church and Heather Wilkinson's husband, is fighting for life in hospital after also eating the mushrooms at the same meal.

READ MORE: Human remains found during search for missing woman Maryam Hamka

Detective Inspector Dean Thomas told media today the investigation was "complex" but confirmed a family member was a suspect.

"I would like to say that because the Homicide Squad is investigating this matter, it doesn't automatically mean that the deaths are suspicious," Thomas said.

It's understood the two couples were dining at the home of Erin Patterson, the daughter-in-law of the Pattersons, when they were served the meal.

The home was raided by police on Saturday and the 48-year-old was questioned by police and released pending further investigation.

"She is (a suspect) because she cooked those mushrooms," Thomas said.

Patterson returned to the Leongatha home today, fighting back tears.

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Thomas said the victims' symptoms aligned with those of eating toxic mushrooms known as death caps.

"Lunch was served and the four people left the address," he said.

"Unfortunately late on the Saturday night or early Sunday morning, they came down with symptoms of some type of food poisoning."

Police believe there is "still lots of work to do" for the investigation.

"We need to understand what has caused the symptoms and what has caused the deaths of these three people, and we have a fourth person in a critical condition in hospital," Thomas said.

"We need to understand what has occurred. It's a very complex matter."

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The Victorian Health Department released a warning about death cap and yellow staining mushrooms in April, reporting a spike in the state due to cool and wet conditions.

The health department said it is investigating the incident.

"The department is aware of the situation and our investigations are ongoing," a spokesperson told 9news.com.au.

"We extend our deepest condolences to the patients' family for their loss."

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Human remains have been found on the Mornington Peninsula during a search for missing Melbourne woman Maryam Hamka.

Police said the human remains were found about 10.30am in bushland off Rogers Road during a search in the Cape Schanck area.

The remains have not yet been formally identified, police said, but they are believed to belong to Hamka.

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"Missing Persons Squad detectives have located what appear to be human remains as part of their ongoing investigation into the suspicious disappearance of Maryam Hamka," police said.

Police previously conducted searches of the Cape Schanck area last month.

The area is located about 100km from Melbourne.

Hamka was last seen leaving a Woolworths store in Albert Street in Brunswick at 5.30pm on April 10, 2021.

She was reported missing to police five days later, sparking an investigation into her whereabouts.

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Hamka's family thanked police for their dedication in finding answers.

"After two heartbreaking years, we are relieved that we have found her remains and we can give her a resting place," the family said in a statement.

"We are grateful for the hard work by the Missing Persons Squad to bring her home.

"We now fight to get the justice she deserves."

Toby Loughnane is accused of murdering his former girlfriend inside his Brighton home.

Loughnane is yet to face trial.

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Assistant Commissioner Mick Frewen said officers worked under "very difficult and trying conditions" to provide the family with answers.

"Our heartfelt thoughts are with Maryam's family and friends. The past two years have been an incredibly difficult time for them and their grief remains as raw as ever," he said.

"The investigative efforts by the Missing Persons Squad, Crime Command and other members of Victoria Police have been tireless and extraordinary.

"We know this has been an incredibly difficult and traumatic time for them. We hope that this will bring the closure they need and Maryam can finally be laid to rest."

Police said the coroner had been advised and a post mortem will occur in due course.

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He used a sim-swapping scheme and phishing email to get the man’s banking information.

Kaoss Price died after being shot by a police officer in Taranaki last year.

About 1000 All Blacks fans descended on the team announcement in Napier.

The inquiry into the criminal justice system's handling of Bruce Lehrmann's prosecution for the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins has been handed down.

The probe, headed by Walter Sofronoff KC, was released by the ACT government on Monday after extensive leaks to the media last week.

The report was scathing of the handling of the case by former Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold, who has since resigned.

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It found several "serious findings" against Drumgold, including that he breached his duty of conduct and at times "lost objectivity and did not act with fairness and detachment" during the trial.

One of the most damning findings was Sofronoff's belief Drumgold "deliberately advanced a false claim of legal professional privilege" and "misled the court" during the case.

This refers to when Drumgold tried to stop the defence from obtaining Detective Superintendent Scott Moller's report on the case – which reportedly found inconsistencies in Higgins' evidence – by creating a non-disclosure affidavit to protect the document.

Drumgold reportedly directed a junior lawyer in his office to make this "misleading" affidavit.

"Drumgold constructed a false narrative to support a claim of legal professional privilege," Sofronoff said.

"He egregiously abused his authority and betrayed the trust of his young staff member to whom he owed a duty to be a mentor and role model."

The report's 10 recommendations

The damning report features nearly 200 pages of findings and 600 pages of appendices but makes the following recommendations:

1. The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions should formulate a policy to "define the threshold to charge" for police officers considering a case.
2. To amend the language used in the Victims of Crime Act to include different language to identify the status of an investigation like "when police decide to charge a person with an offence" instead of "a person being charged".
3. How counselling notes should be stored by police and when these notes can be disclosed.
4. To devise a more consistent approach in compiling briefs of evidence and provide refresher training to all officers on this.
5. Whether disclosing protected confidences (counselling communications made in confidence by a victim of sexual assault) should be banned at certain stages of the criminal process, whether people should be banned from reading protected confidence including if they have been given lawful access without the court's permission.
6. Modifying disclosure certificates, train Australian Federal Police employees on how to describe material in these certificates, create an easy system to determine and clarify what material falls into the certificate and training on how to best prepare these documents.
7. Protocols be formed to "affirm the desirability" of police witnesses being available to legal representatives for a defendant.
8. To enact legislation to codify the scope and content of disclosures owned by the prosecution in criminal proceedings.
9. Updating the Prosecution Policy to provide a process for recording retrial decisions.
10. To review the Collaborative Agreement to include a complaints mechanism against the Office of Director of Public Prosecution and ACT Police.

ACT government supports eight of the ten recommendations in full, condemns early leak

The ACT government said it supports the 10 recommendations made by Sofronoff and agrees with eight of them and two in principle pending further consultation.

"The recommendations contained in the Report offer a pathway forward for the ACT criminal justice system and will further strengthen community confidence in the institutions that support a fair and just system for Canberrans," the government said in a statement.

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In response to the scathing findings against Drumgold, the government acknowledged his resignation and said a review was conducted into 18 criminal cases he handled since being appointed as DPP.

"This examination has found that Mr Drumgold's practice whilst DPP was appellate, meaning that the facts and evidence had already been determined and what was in issue was the findings or sentence based on those facts," the government said.

The government is also considering whether charges should be laid against Drumgold.

The government has condemned Sofronoff's decision to leak the report to media outlets ahead of its formal release.

"The release of the Report, which was not communicated to or approved by the Government, and possible other communication with journalists through the Board of Inquiry process, has interfered with the due process that should have been afforded to impacted parties," the government said.

"The Government is extremely disappointed that this occurred."

It is investigating whether further action is required if the leak was a breach of the Inquiries Act.

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Why was there an inquiry?

The inquiry was established to investigate the criminal handling of Lehrmann's prosecution over the alleged rape of Higgins.

Higgins alleged Lehrmann raped her in Parliament House in 2019.

Lehrmann has always strongly denied this allegation.

The trial ended in a mistrial due to juror misconduct and Drumgold decided against a second trial due to the impact on Higgins' health.

The inquiry was launched, in part, due to allegations from Drumgold that police had pressured him not to prosecute.

Crisis support is available from Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).