Chilling remark fugitive’s daughter made to police during search for missing siblings

Tom Phillips’ daughter uttered something to the police after she was taken into custody following the death of her father.

Phillips and his three children, Jayda, 12, Maverick, 10, and Ember, 9, disappeared into the New Zealand wilderness in 2021. Officials believe that his decision to take his children was due to an alleged dispute between him and his ex-wife, Cat, who is said to have had legal custody of their kids.

They managed to evade the authorities for four years, with the rare sighting being reported, including CCTV footage of what is believed to be Phillips and one of his children robbing a shop in Piopio.

On Monday (8 September), Phillips was shot dead in a shootout with police after an attempted armed robbery of a farm supply store in Te Kūiti.

Officers were called to respond to an alarm, but were met with gunfire, which led to one police officer sustaining critical but 'survivable' injuries in the crossfire.

Tom Phillips is confirmed to have been shot and killed by police (New Zealand Police)

Phillips was pronounced dead at the scene, while Jayda, who was with him, was unharmed and taken into police custody.

According to police, Jayda was 'cooperative' when it came to pointing them in the direction of the campsite where her siblings were staying.

Police Commissioner Richard Chambers told RNZ that she had provided 'vital information to ensure a safe approach' to find Maverick and Ember, while also telling them that there were guns at their campsite.

“We knew that there were firearms,” Chambers said. He also told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking Breakfast that it 'took a while' to ensure that the children were safely recovered, adding: "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."

He also said that Phillips and his children frequently moved between campsites and that they'd been 'moving around this very vast region frequently, so he hasn't stayed in one location for the entire time'.

He was killed after taking his daughter to steal from a commercial property (New Zealand Police)

Adding that Phillips had 'multiple high-powered firearms' and was 'very unstable in his thinking', he continued: "I think the whole country has seen play out in the last 24 hours just how dangerous the situation was and how it could have ended an even worse tragedy, and that would have been the loss one, two or three young lives."

As for what happened to the three kids, they have since been taken into custody and are 'settling well', according to Warwick Morehu of Oranga Tamariki, the New Zealand Ministry for Children.

The children's mother, Catherine, has also spoken out about the ordeal, saying they are 'deeply relieved' that it has come to an end.