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The diver who falsely sparked a two-day search north of Wellington has today pleaded guilty to wasting police time.
Colin Smithies has been sentenced to 300 hours of community work and ordered to pay reparations of $16,292.
The 49-year-old former senior Commerce Commission economist was thought to be missing, after his belongings were found at a Titahi Bay dive spot in early January.
The subsequent police search cost $48,002.
He later turned up in the Hawke’s Bay town of Clive, telling police he had been abducted and sexually violated by two men.
Smithies waked into the Clive police station and made up a story after attempts to kill himself had failed, police prosecutor Sergeant Kevin Shaw said.
He had dyed and cut his hair and shaved his beared.
Smithies later admitted that claims he had been abducted, drugged, shaved and sexually violated were untrue. He was admitted to Wellington Hospital’s psychiatric ward, but has since been released.
Lawyer Mike Antunovic said Smithies was sorry and had long been suffering from undiagnosed clinical depression.
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