A three-year-old father who has been fleeing for several years with his children in the New Zealand wilderness may have been seen again.
Tom Phillips and his three children were possibly the four people who were seen in camouflage clothing, sitting near State Highway 4, south of in Kūiti, on the North Island New Zealand around 8.30 am on Sunday.
Phillips missed since December 2021 with his children Jayda, 11, Ember, 9 and Maverick, 10, 10.
The police received a phone call from a member of the public after they had seen the group 100 meters south of the intersection of Tikitiki Road with Mapara North Road.
“The group consisted of an adult, who was assumed to be a man, and three other people, two of whom were described as children,” the police said.
'The police now work to determine whether this is a credible observation and is working on excluding other possible scenarios.
“A number of questions have been carried out in the last two days while we work to confirm the identity of the group.”
A resident close to the location said that officers were door-Knock property Monday.
Tom Phillips and his three children were noticed by teenage hunters in October, causing fears for their physical and mental well -being after years separated from society
Tom Phillips (photo) is fleeing with his three children after fear that he would lose custody of them
Before Sunday, the last 'credible' observation of the foursome in Bushland was west of Coutts Road in Marokopa in October.
Phillips and the three children were spotted by agricultural land by a few pig hunters who filmed the meeting.
The couple noticed that Phillips had a gun and the police called.
“This is the first time that all three children are observed, what positive information is, and we know it will be reassuring for the broader family of the children,” the police said at the time.
After the observation, the police carried out a three -day search for the area, including the use of a military helicopter, but nothing was found.
Phillips disappeared for the first time with his three children on September 11, 2021, before he came home three weeks later. An order for his arrest was issued on December 9 after he had not appeared before the court.
In a video message last year, the mother of children said: 'I am here before you begged today to bring your babies home.
“They are just innocent children, they don't deserve to be treated this way. They do not deserve the life that is currently being provided to them. '
The mother of three children in the New Zealand Wilderness with their fugitive father has claimed to have seen him disguised on a bunnings (photo) for almost three years
Cat has accused Phillips to use their children as 'pawns in his game'.
The police believe that his most important motive to bring the children to the bush, the fact that he no longer had legal custody.
“That is effective why we believe that he has taken over the children above custody,” said acting detective inspector Andrew Saunders.
Detective Saunders said the police believed that it was possible that Phillips used his first disappearance in preparation for his next.
“Yes, it is certainly in our thinking that that could have been a warming up for what he has done now,” he said.
Guardianship is now at Oranga Tamariki, a government department in New Zealand that is responsible for the well -being of children, and they have made arrangements for when the children are where they go.
When Phillips was missing for the first time, he had legal custody of the children, Saunders said.
In October Cat claimed that she saw Phillips at a bunnings while she walked past a Ute in the parking lot. The mother claimed that De Ute belonged to a Phillips employee and was only stolen after she had seen him.
Cat believes that Phillips was helped by a group of supporters in Zeeland.
Before the observation last year, the police claimed that Phillips could be seen on CCTV on November 2, 2023 after an attempted burglary.
The police of Nieuw -Zeeland believes that the children were brought by their father, Tom Phillips, to a location somewhere in the western Waikato after a dispute with their mother
Security images showed a masked couple, which it was believed to be Phillips and one of his children, who hit the front glass of a store and then ran after the alarm had left.
He is also accused of robbing a bank and shooting at a supermarket employee in Kūiti in May 2023.
Criminal psychologist Dr. Tim Watson-Munro said that Phillips showed the skills and understanding of living from the country with three young children.
Dr. Watson-Munro said that the psychological effect of separating the children of their friends and family in adolescence could be harmful to their development.
“I would be professionally worried about their psychological well -being that results from this,” he said Daily Mail Australia.
“I mean, it's an abnormal kind of life for young children to be killed.”
