Police have revealed that Tom Phillips’ body has been released to his family, as scene examination of the campsites continues.
A postmortem was carried out on Phillips yesterday, and his death has been referred to the Coroner.
Read more below.
Police have revealed that Tom Phillips’ body has been released to his family, as scene examination of the campsites continues.
A postmortem was carried out on Phillips yesterday, and his death has been referred to the Coroner.
Read more below.
Key details of the Tom Phillips case will remain suppressed for now following a hearing on an urgent injunction application.
Lawyers involved in the high-profile case flocked to the High Court at Wellington this afternoon to argue over heavy restrictions blocking media, police and Oranga Tamariki from sharing certain information about the matter.
Most of the details of what was said during the hearing remain heavily suppressed, but the Herald can report that a hearing was held, and the status of the interim injunction order.
Read more below.
An injunction is an order made by a Court, usually to stop someone from doing something.
In the case of Tom Phillips, the injunction prohibits media, police and Oranga Tamariki from publishing certain details related to the case.
Linda Clark, the lawyer representing Julia Phillips, the mother of Tom Phillips, is a partner at Dentons, specialising in public law, regulatory issues, media law and defamation.
Earlier this year, Clark took a temporary leave as a TVNZ board director, as she represented former deputy police commissioner Jevon McSkimming.
McSkimming was granted an injunction to stop media organisations from publishing certain details of the criminal investigation that he faced earlier this year.
Initially, news media companies could not report that the injunction existed – a non-publication order that is sometimes referred to as a “super injunction”.
Clark is a former journalist who left the profession in 2006 to study law.
She even had a high-profile stint as political editor for TVNZ.
Clark has also represented various other well-known clients on a range of matters, including helping negotiate Duncan Garner‘s contract for the AM show and Clarke Gayford in a defamation case against the NZME radio station, Kick.
Clark declined to comment on the Phillips case when approached by the Herald.
The police cordon at the site where Tom Phillips was shot dead has quietened down three days on from the dramatic early morning incident.
Two roading contractors stand guard, leaning against their work utes, talking.
They told the Herald the intersection of Waipuna and Te Anga Rds was teeming with news media just days ago, but the cameras have since left them to themselves.
Police cars have been going in and out of the cordon, they said.
They said the police were looking for evidence to nail down whether Phillips had been getting help, and if so, who was helping him.
Some motorists have been unhappy to come across the cordon.
The road workers said some had kicked up a fuss, but most appreciated that they just had a job to do.It’s unclear when the cordon will be lifted.
A media gag order about the Tom Phillips case is being argued in the High Court at Wellington this afternoon.
Lawyers will be discussing an urgent suppression order preventing media, police and Oranga Tamariki from sharing certain information.
The gag order was granted on Monday evening, shortly after the Phillips children were rescued from a remote campsite in the Waikato backcountry.
The High Court granted an injunction following an oral application from top lawyer Linda Clark on behalf of Julia Phillips, the mother of Tom Phillips.
Police Minister Mark Mitchell has hit back at claims that Tom Phillips was a hero, calling him a “monster” who used his children as “human shields”.
As Mitchell entered parliament this afternoon, he commented on the state of the camp the children were found in.
“This man is not a folk hero, and let me be really clear about this. This is a guy that has taken his children into abysmal conditions. You've seen the state of the camps.
"None of us, if we were responsible parents, would inflict that on our children, especially in the middle of a cold, Kiwi winter,” he said.
Mitchell said Phillips is not a hero because he kept his children away from education and medical support since they disappeared in 2021.
“He has taken them and used them as shields in violent criminal offending, and he has put his daughter in harm's way when he tried to kill a police officer. So this guy is in no way, shape or form a hero.
“Quite the opposite, he's a monster.”
Police have condemned the publication of details from the standoff between police and Tom Phillips during the shootout, taken from Police radio communications
Details of the standoff, including the moment an officer was shot, were published by Stuff after it obtained recordings of police audio. Acting Deputy Commissioner Jill Rogers said the material should never have been made public and described its release as “grossly irresponsible.”
She said the publication risked compromising active inquiries into the Waikato incident and had caused “significant distress” to the officers involved and their families.
“The use by a media outlet of material based on police radio communications is grossly irresponsible and puts at risk inquiries underway into the events that unfolded in Western Waikato on Monday night.
“This material was not released by the police, nor did the media outlet in question approach us for comment.”
She said the extensive and detailed use of information by the media outlet has also caused significant distress to the staff involved that night and their families.
“I ask all media to please act responsibly and respect the sensitivities of this matter.”
It was the investigation that gripped the nation. A father and his three children evading authorities for four years. RNZ's National Crime Correspondent Sam Sherwood takes a look inside Operation Curly.
It was about 4.30pm on Monday when Detective Senior Sergeant Andy Saunders received the text message.
He was with Deputy Commissioner Jill Rogers at a police cordon, awaiting updates as his colleagues searched through dense bush for Tom Phillips’ remaining children.
Police had been told there were guns at the campsite, and Saunders admits the wait was “nerve-racking”.
“You still don’t know how it’s going to end,” he says.
“Our biggest concern was we never wanted a child hurt.”
Then came a three-word text.
“We’ve got them.”
The Phillips children were alive, they were safe, and soon their 1358 days in the bush would be over.
For Saunders, it saw the end of more than two years dedicated to finding the family.
In an interview with RNZ, he spoke about the obstacles faced by the investigation, named Operation Curly, and the toll it took.
An urgent suppression order preventing media, police and Oranga Tamariki from sharing certain information about the Tom Phillips case will be argued in court today.
The gag order was granted on Monday evening, shortly after the Phillips children were rescued from a remote campsite in the Waikato backcountry.
The High Court granted an injunction following an oral application from top lawyer Linda Clark on behalf of Julia Phillips, the mother of Tom Phillips.
It is due to be fully argued in the High Court at Wellington at 2.15pm.