A policeman locks up the cell of inmates at the jail where crew members of Florida-based shipwreck salvage company Aqua Quest International have been detained, in Puerto Lempira, on the Mosquito coast of northeastern Honduras June 8, 2014. The crew of the
A policeman locks up the cell of inmates at the jail where crew members of Florida-based shipwreck salvage company Aqua Quest International have been detained, in Puerto Lempira, on the Mosquito coast of northeastern Honduras June 8, 2014. The crew of the Tarpon Springs-based shipwreck salvage company has been held for a month in the Honduras jail after authorities accused them of gun smuggling, a company spokesman said on Thursday. Stephen Mayne of Aqua Quest International, whose two brothers are among the six men being held, said the company had a contract with a local municipality to do salvage work. Mayne said the company told port officials in advance they would be carrying guns for protection against pirates. Colonel Antonio Sanchez, a spokesman for the Honduran armed forces, said the crew was arrested because they did not have permits to possess guns in the country. REUTERS/Jorge Cabrera (HONDURAS - Tags: POLITICS CRIME LAW MARITIME) REUTERS/Jorge Cabrera

Convicted murderer and child sex offender Phillip Smith has accused the New Zealand prison authorities of "misguiding" him and advising to flee the country by procuring a passport. Smith alleged that a prison officer helped him to obtain a passport. Smith was jailed in 1996 for 13 years on a case of murdering the father of a 12-year-old Wellington boy whom he sexually abused.

Smith, who fled to Chile in November when he was released on parole, was arrested in Brazil less than a week after he slipped out of the country on a passport made under his birth name Traynor. Smith's lawyer Tony Ellis, in a statement released to the media, outside the Auckland Prison, made these startling revelations. According to Ellis, the prison officer provided him the passport application and also assisted him with a photograph and later posted the form. The prison officer had been suggesting Smith to flee the country and cited examples of how Nazis fled to South America after World War II, reported Yahoo News New Zealand.

Victim of Corruption

Ellis said Smith was constrained to release the statement because he had been failed by someone who should have been a role model. "Smith is just trying to show how he escaped and that was made possible by the corrupt prison staff," Ellis told Radio New Zealand. Ellis said, since 2011, Smith paid bribe of 7,000 dollars to get movies on a USB stick, a smartphone and for tips prior to prison searches. Despite Smith's readiness to disclose the facts leading to his escape, the lawyer said, the police refused to interview the convict after he returned from Brazil. But the Corrections Department said Smith's claims have been referred to the police.

Defends Charges

Meanwhile, Smith expressed his intent to defend the charges relating to his escape to Chile from where he moved to Brazil. The 40-year-old criminal was deported from Brazil on Nov 28. On Wednesday, Smith appeared before the Auckland District Court through video conferencing from the Auckland Prison. Appearing in his original self, sans the hairpiece, Smith sat still and expressionless throughout the hearing. Lawyer Tony Ellis said Smith will be pleading not guilty. But no pleas had been entered.

Smith faces charge of escaping lawful custody while being on the run in South America and false representation in obtaining a passport. The court documents allege that Smith made a false declaration that he lived at a lower North Island address while renewing the passport in June 2013. Now that specific address has been suppressed by Judge John Macdonald, reported NZ Herald. Superintendent Richard Chambers said the police requested its suppression to protect the integrity of their enquiry.