{"id":12071,"date":"2025-09-09T16:38:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T16:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/12071\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T16:38:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T16:38:14","slug":"tom-phillips-whats-next-for-marokopa-kids-after-four-years-of-isolation-with-fugitive-father","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/12071\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Phillips: What\u2019s next for Marokopa kids after four years of isolation with fugitive father"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of his children was at the scene of the dramatic shoot-out early in the morning and helped lead police to their two siblings. They were found in a remote campsite at 4.30pm, roughly 2km from where their father died.<\/p>\n

Jayda, 12, Maverick, 10, and Ember, 9, had been missing since December 2021.<\/p>\n

Police Commissioner Richard Chambers arrived in New Zealand from Melbourne last night and said he would travel to the Waikato this morning. <\/p>\n

Speaking from Auckland Airport, Chambers told Newstalk ZB\u2019s Mike Hosking Breakfast, the child found first told police there were guns at the makeshift campsite.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took us a while to ensure the safe recovery of the children yesterday, but we had to take that approach because we knew that there were firearms present and we could not risk anything playing out that might compromise the safety of those children or my staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police were confident the campsite was not where Phillips had been spending \u201cconsiderable time\u201d while on the run but there were \u201csome structures\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know the family liked to move around\u2026 that\u2019s why our job was so hard.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe terrain in this area is challenging. They\u2019ve been on the move and they were deep in the bush, about 2 kilometres away from where the shooting occurred yesterday morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chambers said he got a telephone call about the unfolding incident at 1.47am yesterday. He said he was satisfied the response was done right.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as that happened, I jumped onto our police system and I had a look at the number of units that were in the area at the time. And yes, that support was close by and that obviously played out, thank heavens, with the backup that was there on the spot.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The injured officer] he was in a police car and on his own, but he was with his colleagues yesterday morning. I\u2019m confident that support was what I would want it to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chambers had tough words for anyone who was supporting Phillips.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure there are some in the community who may defend him – he\u2019s not a hero.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chambers told Ryan Bridge on Herald NOW it was likely police had already canvassed the area the children were found.<\/p>\n

He said police were hoping to learn details about what the children had been doing on a day-to-day basis, what they had been eating, and how they had been surviving.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe impact on them psychologically over the last four years and the reintegration that\u2019s going to occur will be significant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chambers said it was still a possibility that someone had been helping Phillips and police investigations in the coming months would help clarify it. He said police would take \u201cappropriate action\u201d against anyone who did.<\/p>\n

He told Radio NZ he was \u201cvery much looking forward\u201d to seeing his colleague in Waikato Hospital, who sustained serious injuries to his head and shoulder.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always knew we were dealing with a very motivated person with Mr Phillips\u2026 we knew we were dealing with someone who was armed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chambers told Bridge the officer has a long road to recovery ahead of him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s an outstanding policeman, well respected by his colleagues. He was doing his job, and he did it very, very well yesterday morning. Of course, none of us ever wants this to happen to our police officers in our country. But that is policing; it\u2019s a challenging occupation.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he will get more details of yesterday morning\u2019s events when he visits the scene later this morning.<\/p>\n

He said there were a \u201clarge number\u201d of bullet holes in the constable\u2019s police car.<\/p>\n

Police Minister Mark Mitchell told Bridge that what occurred yesterday was a \u201ctotal tragedy\u201d for everyone involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was always in the forefront of police\u2019s mind in dealing with this \u2013 what\u2019s a really complex case \u2013 is primarily around the safety of those children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell said it was \u201cgreat news\u201d all three children had been found and were in good health, and said they were now in the care of wider family and Oranga Tamariki.<\/p>\n

While an officer had suffered critical injuries, Mitchell said the constable had made great strides overnight following surgery.<\/p>\n

Mitchell also thanked all those involved in the operation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should be extremely proud of them. It was quite simply outstanding,\u201d he said, describing it as a \u201cvery difficult situation to deal with\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2018A lot of trauma\u2019<\/p>\n

Child psychologist Sara Chatwin told Herald NOW<\/a> yesterday morning what the children had been through would have likely been \u201cdeeply traumatising\u201d. <\/p>\n

Having the way of life they had become accustomed to stripped away from them will be a significant challenge to overcome, she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve been away from other family, you\u2019ve been living with your dad, you love him, he\u2019s your parent … to have lost your dad, that is hugely significant, and it will take a whole lot of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chatwin said going forward, the children will need substantial support so they can re-establish links with the help of professionals. <\/p>\n

\"TomTom Phillips, top left, and his three children, first came to national attention when they disappeared in September 2021. Photo\/ Supplied <\/p>\n

Their education will likely have regressed, and they would have had minimal social interactions while they were on the run, she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a lot of trauma. The trauma of living a different life, the trauma of living with one parent, and then the trauma of having that parent killed in a bizarre situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Jill Rogers said yesterday that the children would have medical examinations and that police would \u201cwork very closely with our partners at Oranga Tamariki to ensure that they receive all of the support that they require at this very difficult time\u201d. <\/p>\n

The children\u2019s mother, Catherine, told RNZ she and her family were \u201clooking forward to welcoming them home with love and care.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said they were saddened by how the events unfolded<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur hope has always been that the children could be returned in a peaceful and safe way for everyone involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Registered psychologist David Stebbing told the Herald last month that one of the children\u2019s alleged involvement in a burglary<\/a> indicates they had likely been conditioned into the life they were living.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s problematic for their views on crime,\u201d Stebbing said of Phillips\u2019 children.<\/p>\n

\u201cChildren develop socially in school, watching TV, being around family. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese kids are living in a vacuum, learning from him and not living in a community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of his children was at the scene of the dramatic shoot-out early in the morning and helped…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,1061,181,2837,2209,2082,3011,11782,305,14607,1899,14606,111,43,139,1536,69,1118,10936,675,14608,9348,165,1529,12637,5134,14605,102,1530],"class_list":["post-12071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-after","tag-children","tag-details","tag-during","tag-father","tag-for","tag-four","tag-fugitive","tag-have","tag-isolation","tag-kids","tag-marokopa","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-next","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-phillips","tag-police","tag-stitching","tag-survived","tag-their","tag-three","tag-together","tag-tom","tag-whats","tag-with","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}