The court told the rapist his explanation ‘smacks’ of reducing the gravity of offending.

A judge said the high-profile 501 “hit the ground running” upon arrival in New Zealand.

A search is under way for a father who pulled his children from a vehicle and fled a collision at Menai in Sydney's south.

Witnesses raced to the rescue of a woman stuck in one car before emergency services took over.

Plenty in the street heard the bang as a Mitsubishi ute flipped on its side after hitting a Mazda Sedan.

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In a matter of seconds a door opened on the ute and the father and his three children climbed out.

Vahid Tabakol said he saw them walk off.

"As I was walking towards it i see a man and three younger children walking away," he said.

Neighbours rushed to help the 43-year-old driver of the Mazda.

It was left to residents to stay by the driver's side until paramedics arrived.

"We saw the woman, she was crying and screaming and then the guy just kind of ran off with his kids," Joy Zaher said.

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Tabakol said he and other residents were worried the children might have suffered concussion and needed medical attention.

Police are continuing to search for the father.

The Mazda driver suffered only minor injuries.

The woman woke up to ‘pressure on her chest’ and thought she was ‘going to die’.

Two people died within 12 hours of each other after separate homicides in Northland.

Given six to 12 months at his first diagnosis, Latta now says he’ll live for years.

The major Auckland road remains closed.

Dolphins were seen around many of Wellington’s bays, thrilling onlookers.

80 years ago, American and Japanese troops were locked in one of the fiercest and bloodiest battles of the Pacific theatre in World War II: the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Farmer John Nilsson loses about 120 ewes and lambs to wild dogs each year.