A Moment In Crime

In 2015 a 43-year-old man was jailed for more than 15 years for the premeditated, prolonged and persistent sexual abuse of his two young daughters - filming much of the abuse of the youngest and uploading it to vile websites.

He was also convicted of sexual offending against another two little girls he met through his job at a community centre and secretly filming an adult friend having sex.

Recently he was refused parole and his d...

In the 1970s, the Mr Asia drug syndicate was one of the largest sellers of heroin in the world. The group began in New Zealand, with two men at its centre: Marty Johnstone and Terry Clark.

As the syndicate spread around the world, for a few years, they were living the high life. And then, they started killing each other. 

In the new season of A Forgotten History, from the New Zealand Herald and Bird of Paradise Productions, Jo...

Anthony John Wheble is not as well-known as many of the criminals previously covered by A Moment in Crime - but he is considered of New Zealand’s most violent criminals.

He has been in prison for more than a decade and he is serving as sentence with no end date, due to the severity and nature of his crimes. 

Wheble has tried to kill two fellow inmates with shanks - one who was confined to a wheelchair at the time with bo...

From the start of 2021 to November 2023 a total of 333 police staff - constabulary and non-sworn - were investigated for alleged criminal offending.

The constabulary includes all of those from recruits right up to senior inspectors and top cops. Non sworn staff are in admin or support roles within the organisation.

Of those investigated, 89 were charged.

In some cases, employees faced multiple charges.

They have murdered and raped ...

In the 19 years I have been a crime and justice reporter I have told countless stories about offending in New Zealand - who is behind it, who is hurt by it and the lasting impact. 

I’ve covered a lot of the really high-profile cases during that time - including more than 130 murders, and dozens upon dozens of prosecutions and trials for manslaughter, sexual assaults and abuse, domestic violence ...

In August 2014 Connor Morris was fatally injured during a street fight in West Auckland. He was struck in the head with a sickle-like tool and died instantly.

Morris, 27, was a patched gang member, the son of a senior leader and was in a relationship with the daughter of one of New Zealand's most prominent broadcasters. 

His murder and the trial for the man responsible, was high profile. A Moment In Crime writer and host Anna Leask...

It is not a rare occurrence for teachers to be investigated or charged with sexual offending against the children and young people they are supposed to be educating, guiding and nurturing.   

But some cases are significantly worse than other and in this episode of A Moment In Crime host Anna Leask recalls the three sex offending teachers who have caused New Zealand kids the most harm. 

The cas...

This is the second in a two-part episode. 

In 2023 South African doctor Lauren Anne Dickason was found guilty of murdering her daughters Liane, 6, and 2-year-old twins Maya and Karla at their Timaru home.

She and her husband Graham - an ortopaedic surgeon - had emigrated to New Zealand just weeks earlier seeking a better, safer life for their young children. 

Dickason killed the little girls 20 minutes after her husband left for a ...

In 2023 South African doctor Lauren Anne Dickason was found guilty of murdering her daughters Liane, 6, and 2-year-old twins Maya and Karla at their Timaru home.

She and her husband Graham - an ortopaedic surgeon - had emigrated to New Zealand just weeks earlier seeking a better, safer life for their young children. 

Dickason killed the little girls 20 minutes after her husband left for a work function. He found the siblings dead i...

On Easter Monday 2021, Paulina Hanna was found dead at the Remuera home she shared with her husband of 30 years, Philip Polkinghorne.

For 16 months, her death was treated as “unexplained”. That’s until it emerged Polkinghorne had been charged with murder. He pleaded not guilty in August 2022.

From the team behind The Front Page, the New Zealand Herald's daily news podcast, comes Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial.

Listen to Accused: T...

Cynric Temple-Camp is one of New Zealand's top pathologists - and he has just published his third book about his work.

The Final Diagnosis is a collection of stranger-than-fiction stories of death, disease and murder - as well as Temple-Camp sharing new perspectives on high-profile cases, including the disappearance of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope and the trial of Mark Lundy.

A Moment In Crime host Anna Leask spoke with Temple-Camp ab...

To mark the 30 year anniversary of the mass killing A Moment In Crime presents The House of Bain, a two-part telling of the case. 

On June 20 1994 Margaret and Robin Bain, their teenage daughters Arawa and Laniet and son Stephen were all shot dead in the family home at 65 Every Street, Dunedin.

Just after 7am David Bain - Margaret and Robin's oldest child - called emergency services to report the ghastly scene. He said he had come ...

On June 20 1994 five members of the Bain family were found shot dead in their home at 65 Every Street, Dunedin.

Margaret and Robin Bain, their teenage daughter Arawa and Laniet and their son Stephen were all shot at close range. 

Just after 7am David Bain - Margaret and Robin's oldest child - called emergency services to report the ghastly scene. He said he had come home from his morning paper run and found them all dead. 

Days lat...

In 1954 Christchurch woman Honorah Parker was murdered while on a walk in the Port Hills. 

The culprits? Her daughter Pauline, 15 and best friend Juliet Hulme, 16. 

With “animal ferocity” they hit her over and over again with a brick inside a stocking. Police would later say the 46-year-old had been “battered to pieces”.

After a controversial trial, the teens were found guilty of murder - a jury rejecting their claims of insanity.

...

In 2011 Dean Richard Mulligan was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his girlfriend Marice McGregor. 

Marice was reported missing by her family in April 2010 and it emerged she had not been seen or heard from in the 10 days before they approached police. 

For weeks police searched and appealed for information - as did Marice's family. 

What happened to Marice? How did she die? And what was her killer's explanation?

In th...

George Gwaze was tried and acquitted in 2008 and 2012 after the death of his adopted daughter 10-year-old Charlene Makaza.

Charlene was rushed to hospital in a terrible state in January 2007 and died after her little body effectively shut down due to massive infection - doctors and experts unable to do anything to save her. 

Her family - who had moved to New Zealand from Zimbabwe for a better life - were scrutinised by police and t...

Jane Furlong was 17 when she went missing from Auckland's Karangahape Rd in May 1993.

Her partner Dani Norsworthy reported her missing two days after she was last seen.

She was a new mum and a part time sex worker and while she'd had a troubled and turbulent life, was doing her best to carve out a future for herself. 

For almost two decades - despite extensive police investigations - there was no sign of Jane, no clues to what happ...

In this episode of A Moment In Crime - the last for 2023 - senior journalist Anna Leask looks back at some of the country’s most brazen prison escapes, and speaks to one of the most high-profile escapees in history.

Arthur Taylor spent almost a month on the run with two murderers and a robber after masterminding an escape from New Zealand’s toughest prison at Paremoremo near Auckland.

You’ll also hear from others who escaped multip...

In 2000 Ronald Van Der Plaat became one of the country’s most infamous sex offenders when he was jailed for a litany of horrific abuse against his daughter spanning 23 years.

He started raping, sexually violating and indecently assaulting his daughter Tanjas when she was just 9 when the family were living in Vanuatu.

For the next 23 years, he would keep her as a sex slave, subjecting her to “bizarre and depraved” abuse which only e...