A man has pleaded guilty to murdering a Tauranga mother and her 2-year-old daughter in June this year.

Redback spiders could thrive in some areas of NZ, posing a real threat to native wildlife, a scientist says.

A Tauranga drug dealer who shot another man in the leg with a cut-down rifle and was also caught with 18 cannabis 'tinnies' inside a coffin in his lounge, has been sentenced to 10 months' home detention.