Phillips’ three children were rescued from the wilderness this week as the complex case stirs emotions and questions remain over how it unfolded
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n a dark, grimy dugout in the middle of the freezing New Zealand bush, the three Phillips children lived with their father. Childhood is measured in increments; birthdays, lost teeth, certificates, a felt tip on a height chart. In the version of reality Tom Phillips created and controlled for his children, it’s hard to know how time was marked. But from 9 December 2021, when their father took them from their mother and the rest of their family, it would be 1,368 sleeps before the children were rescued.
This week, after almost four years on the run, Phillips was found on his way back from a robbery with one of his children. He was shot dead after being stopped by road spikes and opening fire on police, shooting an officer in the head and shoulder. This sparked an urgent search for the two children remaining in the bush. They were found with the help of the other child just a few hours before nightfall the same day, bringing an end to a dark chapter.
The children are now in the custody of Oranga Tamariki, the country’s child protection agency, and when and how their mother will be reunited with them is one of many uncertainties left in a case that has gripped people around the world, not least those in New Zealand, who are left with unanswered questions about the horror that unfolded in their own back yard.
