The parents of Tom Phillips, who vanished with his three children into the New Zealand wilderness in 2021, have made a public apology – their first comments since their fugitive son was shot dead by police a month ago.
“We would like to send our sincere apology… for all the trouble, inconvenience, loss of privacy and property caused by Tom,” Neville and Julia Phillips wrote in a letter published on Thursday.
“We are truly sorry for all that you had to endure.”
Mr Phillips, who disappeared with his children in part due to a custody dispute, evaded capture for nearly four years, despite a nationwide search and multiple sightings.
“We in no way supported him or agreed with any of his actions in the past four years,” Neville and Julia Phillips said in the letter published in King Country News, a small community newspaper.
Their son was killed in a shoot-out on 8 September, in which a police officer was also seriously injured.
The officer has since been discharged from hospital, local media reported.
One of Mr Phillips’ children had been with him during the shoot-out and provided information to help locate his two other children later that day.
Before Mr Phillips and his children vanished, they had been living in Marokopa, a small rural town in the region of Waikato surrounded by dense bush and forested terrain.
Mr Phillips was known as an experienced hunter and bushman who knew the area he disappeared into well.
“The vast area in which Phillips kept the children is difficult, steep terrain almost completely obscured from all angles by dense bush,” Det Sup Ross McKay said weeks after the deadly shoot-out.
Mr Phillips and one or more of his children had been seen a handful of times during their time in the wilderness, on several occasions on CCTV while breaking into stores for supplies.
It was a store in the small town of Piopio that Mr Phillips was suspected of attempting to break into when police were called, leading to a chase and the shoot-out.
The main goal of the police during the operation had been “locating and returning the children safely” Det Sup McKay said. He added that they “knew Phillips had firearms and was motivated to use them”.
Police said they could not provide further details amid ongoing investigations.
Mr Phillips’ family had previously made public appeals to him to return.
In a message addressed directly to him during a television interview, his sister Rozzi said “we’re ready to help you walk through what you need to walk through”.
His mother Julia also wrote him a letter – provided to New Zealand outlet Stuff – saying that every day she hoped “today will be the day that you all come home”.
