A leading legal expert has warned that the three children who spent nearly four years living off‑grid with fugitive father Tom Phillips must not be forced to identify people who may have helped them, as police investigate how the family evaded detection for so long.
Phillips, 38, was shot dead near the rural town of Piopio on Monday after an armed robbery at a farm supply store and a subsequent confrontation with police. He was intercepted while with his eldest daughter, Jayda, 12; she helped officers locate a campsite nearby where her two younger siblings, Maverick, 10, and Ember, 9, were found. All three children have been placed in the care of Oranga Tamariki, New Zealand’s Ministry for Children.
Detective Senior Sergeant Andrew Saunders said investigators were increasingly confident Phillips had received outside assistance while living in the King Country bush. Police have linked him to a series of burglaries and released images of items recovered from a recent campsite, including a quad bike, a motorbike, tarpaulins, gas bottles, cooking equipment and food containers. Authorities offered an $80,000 reward for information during the manhunt, which has now ended with Phillips’ death.
New Zealand Police Commissioner Richard Chambers said negotiators used specialist techniques when speaking with the children and described Jayda as "very, very helpful" in advising officers on how to communicate with her siblings without frightening them. Chambers said police had information a firearm was present at the campsite and confirmed one was recovered. He added that the negotiators were "very highly trained and skilled."
Police allege Phillips opened fire after officers deployed road spikes to stop his vehicle; one officer was shot in the head and remains in critical condition. The confrontation ended with Phillips killed at the scene. A police statement said the eldest daughter was with him at the time of the shootout and later led officers to the campsite where the siblings were hiding about 2 kilometres away.
University of Auckland law professor Mark Henaghan told the New Zealand Herald that children should not be made to feel responsible for identifying people who may have assisted them, and that any questioning must prioritise their welfare. "I'm worried the children are going to be made to feel responsible for kind of identifying people who may well have helped them in good faith, and it's not their responsibility," Henaghan said. He urged strict safeguards, recommended lawyers be present during questioning and warned of the risk of retraumatisation if the children were later called as witnesses.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said there are "a number of questions" about how government agencies handled the case over the past four years and said he expected an inquiry to examine the roles of police and Oranga Tamariki. "There's an inquiry into how government agencies have acted, essentially," Luxon said, adding that exactly what form such an inquiry would take would be decided after advice.
Police Minister Mark Mitchell said authorities had planned a careful process to support the children’s recovery. "There's a careful plan with everyone becoming involved at the right time in terms of making sure that the children are put on a really strong and healthy pathway to recovery," Mitchell said. "They have seen and been exposed to things that children in our country should not be."
The case has drawn public attention and divided opinion in parts of the West Coast community where Phillips previously lived. Police Commissioner Chambers rejected portrayals of Phillips as anything other than a criminal, saying, "No one who does this to children, no one who unleashes high‑powered rifles on my staff, is a hero, simple as that."
Phillips first disappeared with the children in December 2021 after a custody dispute; he left Marokopa and was believed to be living off‑grid in rugged countryside. Three months earlier he had sparked a major search when his truck was found abandoned on a beach and the family later emerged from the bush after 17 days, saying they had been camping. He was charged with wasting police resources but disappeared again before a court appearance.
Police also say Phillips was linked to an armed bank robbery in 2023 during which he was accompanied by one of his children and allegedly fired at a member of the public while fleeing. Investigators have since identified multiple break‑ins thought to have supplied food and equipment to the family while they were on the run. Authorities say they have only confirmed two campsites so far and believe Phillips moved frequently, remaining largely mobile.
A High Court judge on Monday night issued a temporary injunction restricting the disclosure of certain details of the case. Police have said they will now try to "put the puzzle together" of how the family survived in harsh terrain for nearly four years and whether members of the public knowingly assisted them. Photos released by police of a recent campsite show sparse shelters made from branches and tarpaulin and scattered personal items, but officials say the site may have been temporary and was in terrain that had been previously searched.
The children's mother, Catherine "Cat" Christey, issued a statement saying she was relieved the ordeal had ended and that her children had been "dearly missed every day for nearly four years." She said the family looked forward to welcoming the children home "with love and care," while expressing sadness at how events unfolded.
Legal experts and children's advocates say the immediate priority must be the safety and recovery of the three children, and that any investigations into who may have aided Phillips should proceed without placing the burden of identification and responsibility on the minors themselves. They called for careful, trauma‑informed processes, legal representation for the children, and coordination between police and child welfare services as inquiries continue.