As far as stuff-ups go, you don't get more spectacular than the debacle that is Phillip Smith's escape to Chile.
Whichever way you look at it, there has been massive failure on the part of multiple government departments and agencies in doing their job.
Smith, a convicted murderer and child-sex offender, had recently been allowed to leave Springhill Prison near Huntly on temporary prison release conditions. On a side note, I find it quite staggering that the people keeping us safe from a man they consider dangerous let that same man out of jail on jaunts among us.
Surprise, surprise, after the 40-year-old Smith was let out on Thursday into the care of an "approved sponsor", he failed to arrive at the address of an associate in Waterview, Auckland, where he was supposed to stay on his three-night temporary release. Police issued warnings that he was dangerous and should not be approached. They believed that he was either in Manawatu or Wellington. How wrong were they - he was winging his way to Chile with a passport in his REAL name, Phillip John Traynor.
You sometimes have to wonder where they find the civil servants who make decisions like the ones that have allowed a very dangerous killer to waltz out of jail and leave the country. The naivete is quite staggering. They say he had been released before without any trouble and they were confident of his reintegration into society. Clearly he had been planning this for some time and was waiting for the right moment.
