“We are currently looking at a number of items at the site. Aside from the burglaries we are now able to link to Tom, it is apparent that he had outside help.”
He also said police did not believe it was the main site where the children had been living for the past four years, and they had probably moved to the camouflaged spot a few months ago.
A garage-style area at the campsite where Tom Phillips’ children were found south of Auckland.Credit: NZ Police
The children’s mother, Cat, has told New Zealand outlet Mata that she is yet to be told when she will be reunited with her children, who were aged eight, seven and five when she last saw them four years ago.
New Zealand Police Minister Mark Mitchell said it was a “complex situation” and that the authorities were governed by court orders.
“We don’t know what they’ve fully been exposed to, but we know that they’ve been put in a fairly bad position by their father,” he said.
“We know that one of them has witnessed him trying to kill a police officer and then having been killed himself … I think everyone at the moment is just focused on trying to settle the children and figure out what is the best thing for them in terms of what they’ve been exposed to.”
The Phillips children Jayda, Maverick and Ember, with their mother, Cat, a month before they were taken by their father, Tom Phillips, in 2021.
On Tuesday night, New Zealand Police Commissioner Richard Chambers said police were liaising with Cat.
“My staff were talking to her a number of times yesterday, but there are court matters in place, which need to be considered before any access to the children may be considered, as far as I’m aware,” he said.
Chambers said once police recovered the children at the campsite, they were “fairly quickly” handed over to welfare authorities “to ensure that they had the care and the protection that they deserved”.
Chambers sympathised with their mother’s plight and understood that she would be desperate to see them, but said that was not up to the police.
“I totally appreciate that as a parent, and as a parent myself, however… that’s something that [welfare authority] Oranga Tamariki will need to consider,” he said. “There’s obviously things that need to be considered first.”
Police approached the campsite carefully to recover the children because Jayda had told them there were guns and ammunition there, and said they had to negotiate with the children once they got there.
“I’ve got very skilled negotiators, and they kicked in and did what they do so incredibly well and were able to ensure that those children were safe,” Chambers said.
“Of course, they were pleased to see another one of their other siblings, who had been with us since the morning, and so we were very delighted that they were in our care.”
The scene where Tom Phillips was killed in a shootout with police.Credit: Mark Taylor/Stuff.co.nz
When asked whether the children seemed relieved at the time of rescue, Chambers said that he had “no doubt that there was emotion present when the young children were reunited with their older sibling”.
“Their reintegration to society is probably going to take some time,” he said.
Tom Phillips was shot dead by police on Monday.
“I have no doubt that they’re good Kiwi kids. So I’m sure that a nice warm shower, a home-cooked meal and to engage with society in the way they deserve to engage, that will be something that they look forward to,” he added.
“But it’s certainly going to take time and our job as police is to support Oranga Tamariki and anybody else to ensure that those kids are given the best opportunity going forward.”
Chambers confirmed all the children were aware that their father had been killed in the confrontation with police, and they were being helped to process their grief.
“Yes, they are being supported. So too is the wider family,” Chambers said.
“It’s not an end that any of us wanted, but, you know, for four years, we have known that Mr Phillips is armed, he’s dangerous, and he’s been very motivated.
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“We had hoped, of course, that all persons would be safe and well, without harm, but my staff are trained to deal with these situations. They did everything that I would expect them to do, given the threat that was presented to them.
“It’s quite remarkable actually that – and thank heavens – that one of my staff has not lost their own life.”
Chambers said it was too early to tell if the officer hurt in the shootout with Phillips would have permanent injuries as a result of being shot multiple times in the head and shoulders by a high-powered rifle, at close range.
“This experience for my colleague has been extremely traumatic,” he said.
“He’s a young father as well himself. I have no doubt that there will be injuries that he’ll deal with – probably both physical and in terms of the trauma – for many years to come.”
The officer has been undergoing surgery on his eye and Chambers said it was too early to tell if he would lose his sight.
“He spent most of [Monday] in surgery, there’ll be more surgery to come, his injuries are significant. It’s gonna take a lot of time and it was very, very confronting.”
Chambers said that if others were found to have been involved in helping Phillips over the past four years, police would apply the full force of the law, calling the children’s treatment appalling and stressing that no loving father would do such a thing.
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“No father who cares, or loves their children in a way that all fathers do, would do this. To those young children, our job is to enforce the law, and we will.”
Stuff.co.nz
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