
Whangārei house caught fire after family distracted by toddler, left lunch on stove
A Whangārei house caught alight after a family became distracted by a toddler and left lunch cooking on the stove, a fire investigator says.
The Paramount Parade, Tikipunga home was fully ablaze when firefighters arrived about 2pm yesterday.
A person in a moderate condition was taken by ambulance to Whangārei

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

1News
44 minutes ago
- 1News
Sydney university dropout stabs brother, mum after graduation lie
Dropping out of an advanced computing degree, a Sydney man maintained a lie that he would graduate until he tried to kill his brother with a small fruit knife. Jacky Dang, 24, had been enrolled at the University of Sydney until he failed a single subject in early 2023 and did not enrol in any more. Claiming that he was still studying, he told his family his graduation ceremony was on May 24, 2024. The day before, he launched an unprovoked attack on his older brother Jackys who was playing computer games in their shared bedroom at their Marrickville home in Sydney's inner west. "The victim ... suddenly felt a hot sensation in the back of his neck," documents filed with the NSW District Court say. ADVERTISEMENT "He turned and saw the offender holding a knife by the handle in one of his hands. It was a small fruit knife." The victim had studied a biomedical science degree at the Australian Catholic University and had also dropped out while telling his parents he had graduated. "What are you doing? Is this about the graduation thing?" the older brother asked. "I turned out fine, you can stop this." The 24-year-old did not respond but rather launched into a ferocious attack, stabbing his brother in the face, upper-left arm and back. "I am going to die," his brother managed to type in a Discord chat that was open on his computer. Hearing yells, their 56-year-old mother ran into the bedroom and tried to intervene. ADVERTISEMENT Instead, Thri Truc Mai Nguyen was grabbed by her son who stabbed her in the throat. After Nguyen took the knife and emergency services were called, the younger Dang sat silently on a dining room chair. He presented his wrists to be handcuffed when police arrived. During a recorded interview while in custody, Dang told officers he had homicidal and suicidal thoughts for a number of years. "(He) had given up on life and had thought to kill his family and then himself," the agreed facts sheet filed in court say. Where to get help. (Source: 1News) Dang intended to kill his brother and had hit his mother in the neck to get her to "back off". ADVERTISEMENT "He further explained that he waited for police to arrive, acknowledging his plan had failed and it would be best to hand himself in," court documents say. Without trauma-centre level emergency management, his brother would have died as a result of his nine stab wounds. He spent 13 days in hospital, five days of which were under sedation and intubation to aid his recovery. Nguyen had one stab wound and spent four days in hospital. Dang later pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to murder and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. He will be sentenced at Downing Centre District Court on August 14.

1News
an hour ago
- 1News
Mushroom cook accused of 'four calculated deceptions'
Mushroom cook Erin Patterson deliberately sourced death cap mushrooms, blitzed them into a powder and concealed them in beef Wellingtons to poison her lunch guests, a jury has been told. Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC laid out the allegations in the Victorian Supreme Court today as she began her closing address in Patterson's triple-murder trial. Patterson, 50, has pleaded not guilty, denying she intentionally served the poisoned lunch to her former in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, Gail's sister Heather and her husband Ian Wilkinson. Don, Gail and Heather all died after the July 2023 lunch at Patterson's home in regional Victoria, while Ian survived. Patterson has also pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson. ADVERTISEMENT Erin Patterson has wrapped up her time in the witness box, closing out a tense week of questioning. (Source: 1News) Rogers opened her final address to the jury by claiming Patterson had carried out "four calculated deceptions". The first was fabricating a cancer diagnosis so there would be a reason to have the four guests over for lunch, the prosecutor said. Rogers alleged Patterson "planted the seed" of the fake cancer claim at least a month earlier when she told Gail she was undergoing medical tests for a lump on her elbow. Patterson told Gail she needed to have an MRI after a successful biopsy but there were no records of any tests or diagnosis, the prosecutor said. "She never thought she would have to account for this lie," Dr Rogers told the jury. "She did not think her lunch guests would live to reveal it. Her lie would die with them." ADVERTISEMENT Most recipes for the dish found online contain mushrooms. (Source: The prosecutor alleged Patterson's second deception was the lunch itself and her decision to source the death cap mushrooms and conceal the poison in individual beef Wellingtons. Rogers pointed to iNaturalist website posts detailing death cap mushroom sites in Victoria's Gippsland region and phone-tower data that showed Patterson's mobile in those locations. The prosecutor said the jury could safely infer Patterson had found and collected death cap mushrooms from those sites in April and May 2023. Patterson then bought a dehydrator and dehydrated those mushrooms, before blitzing them into a powder to use in the individually portioned beef Wellingtons, Rogers alleged. The prosecutor told the jury Patterson chose to serve the beef Wellingtons as small parcels instead of the recipe-mandated log form so she could avoid eating the death caps. Death cap mushrooms (file image). (Source: ADVERTISEMENT Patterson also served her own meal on a different coloured plate for the same reason, Rogers said. The lunch cook denied using a different plate but the prosecutor told the jurors they should instead believe Wilkinson's evidence as he was a reliable witness with a clear memory. Rogers alleged Patterson's third deception was feigning illness after the lunch, adding Patterson falsely claimed she had continuous "explosive diarrhoea". She noted Patterson was able to drive her son's friend home and go for a two-hour-long round trip the day after the lunch without needing a bathroom. "You might think a person who genuinely fears pooing her pants ... would not take such a risk," the prosecutor said. Patterson presented to the Leongatha Hospital emergency department two days after the lunch, complaining of diarrhoea and pain. She left within a few minutes against the doctor's advice because she knew she had not consumed the death cap mushrooms, Rogers alleged. ADVERTISEMENT "She realised what she had done was going to be uncovered," the prosecutor told the jury. "She fled back to her house to try and figure out how to manage the situation." The trial continues.


NZ Herald
6 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Whangārei shoplifting: Off-duty officer sucker-punched; one offender jailed, one sentenced to community work
A member of the public was sucker-punched in broad daylight when he tried to stop two shoplifters making off with a vacuum on a busy Saturday morning. Now, both offenders have been sentenced – one to prison, the other given a chance to get help. Martin Hughes, 32, appeared in