The Marokopa mystery: What we still don't know about the Phillips family's disappearance and survival

Thursday, 30 September 2021

Waikato West Area Commander Will Loughrin speaks to media after the missing Marokopa family were found.

After 18 days missing, with an abandoned ute on the wild west coast their last sign of life, Thomas Phillips and his three young children unexpectedly re-emerged alive and healthy on Thursday.

Phillips – who disappeared with his children Jayda Jin, 8, Maverick, 6, and Ember, 5 – survived in a tent in the dense bush, about 15 kilometres away from the coast, Police revealed on Thursday. They were not spotted despite an extensive search including search and rescue teams, community volunteers, heat-detecting drones, a helicopter and jet ski.

Tom Phillips’ mother described her grandchildren as “bouncy as ever” on Thursday, and Waikato West Area Commander Will Loughrin said the outcome was “extraordinary,” following a traumatic ordeal for the family and community.

But many burning questions remain as to why Phillips vanished into the bush with his children, what his intentions were, and how exactly the family survived in the rugged surroundings unharmed.

Loughrin said many facts still needed to be established as to why this incident happened, and what will happen now.

Kiritihere Beach where Phillips’ ute was found. Inset, left to right: Thomas Phillips, 34; Jayda Jin Phillips, 8; Ember Phillips, 5; Maverick Callum-Phillips, 6.

* Missing family: Daily searches for family last seen in Marokopa suspended

* Mother of missing children in Marokopa thanks searchers and support crews

An extensive search and rescue operation did not find Thomas Phillips and his three young children until he re-emerged with them at his family farm on Thursday.

At 5.30am on Wednesday morning, Phillips and the children were seen on a bike on Mangatoa Road, about 5km from the family farm. Police dispatched a plane to scour the area but saw nothing further until Phillips “walked through the door” at the family farm on Thursday morning.

Surf Lifesaving crews searched for the father and his three children in Marokopa.

Tramping expert and writer Shaun Barnett said if Phillips was an experienced bushman he could have shot possums and goats for food.

Easy enough ‘not to be found’

Tramping expert and conservation writer Shaun Barnett has spent time in the bush near Marokopa, in the Whareorino Conservation Area.

The area is densely forested, and anyone would need good navigation skills to go off track.

The extensive search did not find the family for 18 days.

But if the family mostly stayed in one place they would conserve energy – and the temperature, spring in Waikato, would be milder than some other areas of the country, Barnett said.

Jayda Jin, 8, Maverick Callum-Phillips, 6, and Ember Phillips, 5, went missing off the Waikato west coast by Marokopa with father Thomas Phillips, 34.

Shooting goats and possums might have been a food source, and Phillips could have carried enough staples, like rice, into the forested area for a number of weeks, Barnett said. “I think if you don’t want to be found, it’s probably easy enough to do that in that area.”

Staying away from formed tracks and hiding under the dense fern covering could conceal the family, Barnett said. Leaving a ute at the coast was a “clear signal pointing to the sea”, Barnett said.

Frances Joychild QC said it wasn’t “best practice” as a parent to go into the dense bush for a long period of time without letting anybody know.

“The situation is quite different from a missing tramper when you know where they intended to go, but they haven’t turned up, and they left intentions of where abouts they were…that’s quite a different search to an unknown search where you think someone is in the sea, and you’re looking a bit in the bush as well,” he said.

“I guess the remarkable thing is to have done this with small children,” he said. “I would say that’s a significant feat to pull off keeping kids healthy for that length of time in the bush”.

Is what Phillips did legal?

During the press conference, Loughrin did not confirm whether any charges would be laid against Phillips, saying police “were working to establish the facts of what happened”.

Nor did he respond when questions were asked about the father’s state of mind.

Family lawyer Chris Nicholls said the situation was “very unusual”. He had the legal right, as a father with custody of his children, to take his children into the bush – if he was going on a holiday.

But it all depended on what custody arrangements, or parenting orders, Phillips shared with the mother – and if he was contravening any of those arrangements, Nicholls said.

Or, if he was trying to set up a new life with the children.

“If there was no parenting order, and he was just going on holiday, legally he’s done nothing wrong. Morally is a completely different question, provided he hasn’t deliberately harmed the children,” Nicholls said. “One parent can’t go and try and change the child’s residence, if he was trying to set up a new life in the bush, that potentially wouldn’t be legal.”

Human rights lawyer Frances Joychild QC said it wasn’t “best practice” as a parent to go into the dense bush for a long period of time without letting anybody know.

But it was currently impossible to know what was in Phillips’ mind, or what his intentions were, when he vanished.

“The police have said questions need to be answered, and until they are answered it’s only speculation,” she said. “Was it normal practice for him to go off with the children and not tell anyone, and is that good practice?”