Couple take builder to court to release documents they claim would prove they were misled.

Cyclone Gabrielle is forecast to be one of the most serious storms to hit NZ this century.

Mercury Energy is urgently shedding water from Lake Taupō and the Waikato River.

A 51-year-old man has been charged by police after it was alleged he lit several fires in five suburbs across Perth.

Police allege the man deliberately lit 17 fires in Cockburn, Central Perth, Jandakot, Yangebup and Spearwood, including two bushfires between December 10, 2022 and January 28, 2023.

The man has been charged with 17 counts of wilfully lighting a fire to injure or damage and has been refused bail. 

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He is due to appear in court today. If found guilty he could face up to 20 years in prison. 

Police are asking anyone with additional information to contact the authorities.

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WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned the following article contains images of deceased persons. 

In the moments before Vittorio Stefanato shot a defenceless woman in the head, he told her: "I'm going over there to the shed, I get the gun, and if you're still here, I shoot you".

Stefanato shot Christine Neilan near his Lightning Ridge tourist attraction Amigo's Castle in January 2020, telling police he was "under stress" from several locals who were regularly asking him for money.

The 75-year-old pleaded guilty to Neilan's murder and was on Friday sentenced to at least 13 years and seven months' jail.

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NSW Supreme Court judge, Justice Robert Allan Hulme, described his actions as callous, senseless and brutal.

The judge said the grief of Neilan's four children, her grandchildren, sisters and mother was "enormous", as she was a comforting source of love and support.

According to an agreed set of facts, Neilan was with another woman at Stefanato's property on the morning of January 8 and both asked him for money.

He put $100 on the table, but Neilan asked for more when the other woman took all the cash. Stefanato refused and told her to leave, saying he was going to the shed to get his gun.

As Neilan stood up, he shot her with a .22 calibre rifle, then moved her body to his garage and covered it in carpet underlay.

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He then drank several glasses of wine and took a nap, before going to the town's bank and bowling club in an attempt to create an alibi.

That night he moved her body outside his fence, where it was found the next morning.

Stefanato denied any involvement for more than 18 months, but eventually confessed on October 18, 2021, telling police he was fed up with being asked for money.

He told detectives: "It happened to probably the wrong woman … because she didn't deserve to be killed."

The court heard Stefanato had an uneventful childhood in Italy before moving to Australia, where he built a castle in the opal mining town to combat bouts of sadness over never having a family.

Justice Hulme acknowledged Stefanato's delayed expressions of remorse, his early guilty plea and his advanced age, but said his stress and anger was no excuse to commit murder.

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"Intentionally killing a defenceless woman by shooting her in the head at close range is an extraordinarily callous and gravely serious act of murder," Justice Hulme told the court, sitting in Dubbo.

"It was a senseless yet brutal thing to do."

The judge set a maximum term of 18 years and two months. Stefanato will be eligible for parole in May 2035.

A judge has released footage of a horrific domestic violence attack as an example of the surge in violent and life-threatening offences.

Abbas Hayder Al-Khafaji has pleaded guilty to five charges and could be jailed for 12 years after the attack on his partner at Narellan McDonald's on February 22 last year.

The video, released during his sentencing hearing, shows Al-Khafaji ploughing his car through the McDonald's shopfront in Sydney's south-west, sending glass flying across the store.

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In the confronting vision, he then threatens his partner with a knife in front of terrified staff.

The woman, who can't be identified, told Campbelltown District Court she felt "emotionally manipulated" into staying in the relationship.

She said the 27-year-old would resort to drug use and self-harm when she mentioned breaking up, but she eventually worked up the courage to leave.

"Leaving this relationship was not going to be without explosive repercussions," she told the court yesterday.

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The Oran Park man, who is in custody, has pleaded guilty to using an offensive weapon with an intent to commit an indictable offence, destroying or damaging property worth between $5000 and $15,000, and contravening the conditions of an AVO.

He will be sentenced at a later date.

If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au.

In an emergency, call 000.

Man charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm denied bail.

Meanwhile, the health warning for Okawa Bay is now been lifted.

A remote peninsula close to a controversial gas processing facility has been nominated by the federal government for world heritage status.

A hundred thousand acres on the Burrup Peninsula, known to traditional custodians as Murujuga, would be the second site in Australia listed because of its First Nations heritage.

Murujuga is home to more than a million petroglyphs, ancient rock art considered sacred to local Indigenous people.

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But the presence of a gas plant owned by Woodside puts this art at risk, traditional custodian Raelene Cooper said.

"We strongly support the World Heritage nomination – it should have happened years ago – but we are under no illusions that this will protect Murujuga from industrial damage due to Woodside's expanding Burrup Hub," she said.

"Support for this nomination from Woodside, Perdaman and the WA government is deeply hypocritical while they are at the same time pushing ahead with projects that will destroy the very cultural values the listing is supposed to protect."

Traditional custodians in the area believe pollution from the plant will cause acid rain that will damage the rock art. 

Whether the art would be damaged by pollutants from the plant is a matter for debate.

Nevertheless, the listing has been celebrated by Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek.

"This deeply storied landscape contains a rich assemblage of tangible and intangible cultural attributes, including one of the densest and most diverse collections of petroglyphs in the world," she said in a statement.

"Murujuga is a natural wonder of the world – a place for all Australians to reflect on years of continuous living culture."

UNESCO will take 18 months to consider the application, among many others, and will make a decision next year.

The peninsula, formerly known as Dampier Island, is in the Pilbara north of Karratha.

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The thief told police he had been kidnapped by gang members.