A Wellington man who is believed to have staged his own disappearance has made another brief appearance in the Wellington District Court.
Colin Smithies, 49, is charged with wasting police time.
The alarm was raised and a search was launched after Mr Smithies failed to return home last month.
His family thought he had been diving in Titahi Bay, and the search was concentrated there, but he later handed himself at a police station in Hawke's Bay.
Mr Smithies's lawyer told the court his client is still being treated at Wellington Hospital's psychiatric unit.
Mr Smithies didn't enter a plea to the charge and Judge Mike Behrens remanded him on bail to reappear in court on 14 March.