A convicted sex offender who sexually assaulted a young woman at knifepoint while on parole has appealed against what he calls a "manifestly excessive'' open-ended preventive sentence.

The $20,000 offered for information on the whereabouts of Simon Garrick is the 12th reward offered by police for a murder inquiry in the past decade.

Southern police have taken the unusual step of posting a $20,000 reward in the hope of finding Simon James Garrick, last seen by his family a year ago.

About 130 pairs of hands and a "year's worth" of weekends have helped complete a predator-proof fence perched above the cliffs of St Clair, Dunedin.

A Dunedin man has been sentenced to seven and a-half years' jail for sexually molesting a young boy for more than three years.

At least one person has been taken to hospital after a crash between a car and a truck in Dunedin this morning.

Three Dunedin police officers and a prison officer must wait several months for blood test results after being spat at by two offenders, one of whom said he had hepatitis.

Student behaviour in Dunedin appears to be improving, with a significant drop in students being dealt with by the University of Otago for serious incidents.

The sole occupant of a newly-renovated Dunedin home extensively damaged in a fire fled the inferno after she was woken by a smoke alarm.

One house has been destroyed and another damaged after two fires in the South Island overnight.

Dunedin police say anyone finding a black bag containing a tear-gas canister and cartridges, lost by officers in the city last Thursday, shouldn't tamper with the contents.

The sale of a collection of Nazi memorabilia has been called a "slap in the face" for the Jewish community.

The beautiful game and some of its best young players are coming to Dunedin, with confirmation Forsyth Barr Stadium will host seven matches during the 2015 Fifa Under-20 World Cup.

A lawyer struck off over accusations of stealing nearly $3 million from clients has had 33 criminal charges laid against him.

Sixty-four Dunedin manufacturing workers will have their working week reduced by a day, following KiwiRail's decision to award a manufacturing tender offshore.

A wheelie-bin arsonist left mounds of melted plastic and a Dunedin suburb "saturated" with police patrols.

An Otago student who nearly died after swallowing his own vomit during a drinking game is among examples being used to put students off such practices.

Unsuspecting Dunedin pensioners have been duped of their cash by a young female hustler with a toddler.

A woman bit the top off another woman's little finger and spat it out during a drunken argument, a court has been told.

Black ice in the Manuka Gorge left John Nicholl and his family shaken after his car spun out of control and ended up in a roadside ditch.

Beware my flock of sheep. An unusual threat has been made by a Dunedin man who says he'll unleash woolly revenge in the Octagon unless he gets his way.

Brighton residents occupying a planned 2degrees cellphone tower site face a standoff with the company after the Dunedin City Council ruled out issuing a trespass notice against them.

Injured and intoxicated revellers from the Illuminate Paint Party made a busy night worse for emergency department staff at Dunedin Hospital.

A man escaped with minor injuries after the Fulton Hogan truck he was driving rolled 50m down a bank into a Brighton creek near Dunedin yesterday.