Reissue: “We know the family, we know the cop”: Mayor speaks of close-knit Marokopa community

In the early hours of Monday morning, a man police were hunting for nearly four years was shot and killed in a stand-off on a rural Waikato road.

That man was Tom Phillips, who in December 2021 vanished into the Marokopa bush with his three children, Jayda, Maverick, and Ember.

There have been numerous sightings over the years of the fugitive father - the last was in August when he and another person believed to be one of his children, were seen on CCTV breaking into a Piopio superette.

The Front Page travelled to the King Country and spoke to Waitomo District Mayor John Robertson about how the community has fared and what we can learn from the ordeal.

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You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.

Host: Chelsea Daniels
Editor/Producer: Richard Martin
Producer: Jane Yee

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Kyota at Chelsea Daniels here, host of the Front Page.
We're taking away breakover summer, but to help fill the gap,
we're re issuing some of our most significant episodes of
twenty twenty five on behalf of the Front Page team.
Thanks for listening and we look forward to being back
with you on January twelfth, twenty twenty six.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Kiota.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
I'm Chelsea Daniels, and this is a special on location
episode of the Front Page, a daily podcast presented by
The New Zealand Herald. We're in the small Waikato town
of pure Pel sitting on a park bench across the
road from PGG Rightson. Now, other than the police tape

(01:03):
across the entrance, you wouldn't know that. It's one of
the scenes police are focusing on in their investigation into
Tom Phillips, who at.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
About two thirty am on Monday.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
Police believe it tried to break into this store. Now,
what happened on this fateful morning and how did we
get here? Tom and his three kids, Jada, Maverick and
Ember first went missing in September twenty twenty one, which
sparked a major search near Mauta Kopper, but three weeks later,

(01:36):
they rocked up at the family's farm and he was
charged with wasting police resources.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
He didn't show up.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
To court for those charges. Why because he had taken
the kids again. This was in December twenty twenty one.
In September twenty twenty three, we learned a warrant was
out for his arrest police alleging he robbed a bank
in Tekowiti.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
In May twenty twenty.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
Three, he was charged with aggravated robbery, aggravated wounding and
unlawfully possessing a firearm over the armed heist of A
and Z Tekowiti on May sixteen. Two people, both armed, entered,
demanded cash, and fled on a farm style motorbike. In August,
there was a spate of sear around Waikato. Phillips was

(02:21):
seen in two different Bunnings warehouse stores, disguising himself with
glasses and a surgical mask. He used cash to buy
items which suggested he may have set up a campsite,
including headlamps, batteries, seedlings, buckets, and gum boots. In September
twenty twenty three, police revealed they'd received fourteen reports of
sightings of Phillips.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
None turned out to be positive.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
November that year, Phillips and one of his children allegedly
stole a quad bike from a rural Waikato property and
then broke into a shop. Security footage of the pair
shows them smashing the front glass and fleeing north after
the alarm was set off at about two am. Tom
and the kids was spotted by peg hunters in the
Markopa area at the beginning of October, the first time

(03:06):
they've been seen all together since they went missing in
December twenty twenty one. They were wearing camo gear hiking
through farmland carrying backpacks. Police and air support, including the
air fr helicopter, were sent to the area but found nothing.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
The kid's mother, though, cat she was happy to have
proof they were all alive. So that brings us up
to last month.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
August twenty twenty five, Phillips and one of his children
were caught on CCTV breaking into a pulpule suparette, which
he also targeted in November twenty twenty three. He used
a power tool suspected to be an angle grinder to
break into the barred back door and stole groceries before
speeding off on a quad bike that takes us up

(03:51):
until now. Police were called by a member of the
public who thought they were witnessing a burglary about two
thirty am Monday at a rural farm supply store. PGG
writes in in pul Puel. Behind us, two people in
farm clothing and wearing headlamps left the scene on a
quad bike.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
At about three twenty am.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
Police laid road spikes and the bike stops at around
the intersection of Waypoona and Tower Roads, which.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
Leads to Mattacoppa.

Speaker 1 (04:21):
The first attending officer has come across the bike and
was confronted by gunfire at close range. It's understood he
was shot in the head with a high powered rifle.
He fell to the ground, took cover, and he was
later airlifted to Waikato Hospital. He received critical injuries and
will require multiple surgeries. Soon after, a second patrol unit

(04:43):
arrived and shot Phillips.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
He died at the scene.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
Multiple firearms were found on and around the quad bike.
A number of items stolen from the store were also found.
The latest update as of about ten to six on
Monday evening was that the two remaining children were found
by police. They were found at about four point thirty
pm in Bush, roughly two kilometers from the location where

(05:09):
their father, Tom Phillips died. Acting Deputy Commissioner Jill Rodgers said,
to know the children are safe and now receiving care
afternoon nearly four years is an absolute relief.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
She said.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
While they are safe, this is the start of a
long journey of recovery and their welfare remains a top priority.
For that reason, they will not go into details about
where they are now and their mental state. We spoke
to Waitomo District Mayor John robertson mid afternoon in Tekowiti
before the latest development. So John, tell me a little

(05:49):
bit about the area that we're looking at here.

Speaker 3 (05:54):
So the area is really rugged, sort of classic King
Country hills, steep hills. This is out Maracoppa wires out
by the coast, you know, rugged West coast New Zealand,
vast areas of native forest. There's a lot of dock

(06:16):
conservation land out there. So I think of the Waitomo
district there's something like twenty percent is in dock estate.
So and sparsely populated, you know, so metal roads from
council roads going down and you know, often just a
few farmers are just serving a few farms in the area, and.

Speaker 1 (06:39):
So the population is one of the smallest council areas,
but you mentioned before one of the district is actually
one of the largest in the country.

Speaker 3 (06:47):
It's large for the North Island. It's three and a
half thousand square kilometers, which you is about the size
of Hamilton City, Waipa District Council and Otronga Council. So
it is the Waitomo as part of the we're in
the center of the king Country is a big, vast area.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
Years and do you know Tom and Tom's family, No,
I don't.

Speaker 3 (07:14):
I've not known Tom. The family is a family that's
been in that area for a long time, good farming people,
and while I made contact early on with them, they've
wanted their privacy respected too. So the local community is
their community, and the mayor has kept away through that time.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
In terms of how long this ordeal has taken, nearly
four years, or exactly four years if you count the
first time him and the kids went missing. It's an
incredible time and an incredible amount of time for the
whole country and even internationally people looking at the district
and that's probably something that you're not used to out here,

(08:02):
what's it been like.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
Look, the focus has come on periodically. So when obviously
when when Tom disappeared, the second time there was a
and you know, and the first time I guess there
was a very big presence of police for a week
or so. Since then, there's been these alleged sightings and

(08:27):
alleged robberies and so, you know, every six months or so,
and so the police at times have come in in
a number of cars, but not stayed for long. So
it had you know that the attention has been on Tom,

(08:47):
but it's been every six months or so when there's
an alleged sighting.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
More has it been the talk of the town.

Speaker 3 (08:53):
Over the almost four years. It's not something that we
wake up to every day and think, oh, where's Tom.
It is something that we periodically think about, the children especially,
And then when there's been a an incident or a
sighting or an alleged robbery, the community has chatted a

(09:15):
bit and wondered was that Tom or not? And the
police have had clearly had their evidence and have known
more than the community.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
Has in terms of how this has ended. Obviously one
of the more tragic circumstances that it could have ended
it could have ended in a.

Speaker 2 (09:36):
Multitude of ways.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
How do you think do you think that police or
everyone has gone about this the right way? Do you
have any ideas on how to perhaps should we have
done better?

Speaker 3 (09:50):
Yes, we should have done better, but that's not a
blame on the police. I you know, about a year ago,
you know, I guess I started chatting to people about
whether there's a way to encourage Tom to come out

(10:11):
with a negotiated type agreement because we all know that
there's a custody issue behind this as well, and that
that those situations are really complex to get through. But yeah,

(10:33):
I did think a year ago, in fact, I called
the Commissioner for Children in Wellington and said, I wonder
whether there is a way where someone from the outside
with manna could come in and quietly see if an agree,

(10:55):
if there was a way through it, and it's really difficult.
I acknowledged that. So the police, well, obviously the police
have charges against Tom, but those sorts of things could
be negotiated by the police, and I think a few
months ago the police said that they would be prepared
to negotiate the custody of the children sits with the
family Court and there's no easy way to have an

(11:21):
agreement with a family court, and no easy way to
get agreement anyway, but to get an agreement with the
family court in a situation like this. But I think
we do need to reflect on this and see whether

(11:41):
there is and it may require legislation to amend some
act around this, whether it's even the powers of the
commissioner for the children, Whether there's a way of having
someone pull together the various parties, and some of them
are government departments, and sit around a table and say, well, actually,

(12:05):
this solution could possibly be negotiated through quietly through contacts.
I don't know hard I know, but much better than
the outcome that we've come to day.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
Well, the outcome is probably one of the worst. And
I suppose knowing that he was armed through the electorate,
the robberies over the years as well had police on guard,
so to speak. In terms of the solution that we've
come at today, what do you think the way forward is?

Speaker 3 (12:42):
Look, the police will do an investigation. Now I'm looking
forward to seeing the completion of that and then to
see whether there can be And it comes back to
what I've just been saying, whether we need be good
to see the Commissioner for Children be able to make

(13:05):
a submission into this process too. So you know, the
outcome we've got to is the outcome we've got, and
it's really tragic, and so you know, I guess, yeah,
the learnings from this perhaps we can bring forward and see, Yeah,

(13:30):
if there's a better way. We knew, you know that
if this, if Tom was confronted. I'm sure the police
knew that if he was confronted there could be an
issue in this instance. He I think rightly the police

(13:51):
did what they did and managed to find him, but
I don't think anyone would have thought it would have
ended in such a violent way. So it's very sad.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
And the police officer who was first on this saying
he was local, he's a.

Speaker 3 (14:09):
Local cop from pu pu Ari area, yes, and long term, long.

Speaker 1 (14:15):
Serving and that must be terrible for the community. It
seems to so tight knit.

Speaker 3 (14:21):
Yeah, yeah, very sad.

Speaker 1 (14:23):
Yeah, are you okay? Yep?

Speaker 3 (14:31):
But I mean this is the you know, when you
think of the impact on the community. We know the
people in this, you know, we know the family of
Mara copa Tom's family, We know the cop and the
family and so yeah.

Speaker 1 (14:51):
Have you spoken to his family.

Speaker 3 (14:53):
No, I haven't. I think I just need to give
them time.

Speaker 1 (15:01):
And if you had a word to the community about
how to feel, or had any words of advice, what
would they be.

Speaker 3 (15:09):
Look, we the community will do this. I don't need
to advise them. They will support those most closely impacted.
So it's a great, great community. The Maricopa community out there,
farming community will come round and pupure heart as well.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
Oh, thank you so much for talking to us today.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
John.

Speaker 3 (15:34):
All right, now you're welcome.

Speaker 1 (15:38):
That's it for this episode of the Front Page. You
can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage
at enzidherld dot co dot nz. The Front Page is
produced by Jane Ye and Richard Martin, who is also
our editor.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
I'm Chelsea Daniels.

Speaker 1 (15:56):
Subscribe to The Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you
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behind the headlines.