Convicted New Zealand murderer flees to Brazil while on temporary release

A convicted child molester and murderer from New Zealand managed to plan his escape and flee to Brazil while on temporary release before authorities caught up with him yesterday.

Brazilian federal police said in a statement that they found Phillip John Smith, 40, in a hostel in the bohemian Santa Teresa neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro. The fugitive was arrested and would be kept in custody pending extradition, police said.

The case has raised plenty of questions about the competence of New Zealand authorities after Smith managed to escape during a three-day temporary release from prison and fly first to Chile and then Brazil.

New Zealand police say he used a passport he obtained under his birth name, Phillip John Traynor.

In an email the fugitive sent earlier this week, he told Radio New Zealand he had planned his escape by running a criminal check on his birth name and finding it had not been red-flagged.

"My only anxiety was that somebody that knew me might happen to be at the airport at the same time to identify me," he wrote.