ANALYSIS: For three years and nine months, Tom Phillips and his three kids were alone in the King Country bush.
Unlike the first time he absconded with them – which lasted 19 days and he explained away as a camping trip gone wrong – we simply don’t know what attempts exactly were made to locate him.
We do not know the extent of an air, land or sea search. He may have been left to his own devices?
Someone at police seemingly decided the kids would be safe enough with Phillips, despite him not having custody, despite concerns from the children’s mother and family, despite him being charged for wasting police time, and despite him failing to appear in court.
The decisions they made may well have been reasonable. But we simply do not know.
Police, now, must explain why they made the calls they did, what efforts they made to find him, and whether they tried to act earlier?
And if they did try – and had a clear idea of where Phillips was – they need to be clearer as to why they didn’t take more direct action.
All along, police have said the children are the priority and they didn’t want to put the kids in harm’s way. But by leaving them with him for 1370 days, they did.
So, it’s time to explain those decisions.
This week, police have said they had “mixed emotions” over how it played out on Monday and that it’s a “devastating outcome for all involved”.
There have been discussions about thick bush, caves, and dangerous terrain which make it near impossible to find them. But we need to know more about this.
The Air Force has sophisticated submarine-hunting aircraft (the P8-Poseidons). They are loaded with highly classified gadgets that help in search and rescue. They can find submarines underwater, so surely they can find humans in the bush?
The NH90 helicopters are used for search and rescue too – so were they deployed to use their highly-capable tech to search for the Phillips? You can’t tell me that if an enemy force invaded and hid in the bush, we would have no way to find them?
Did police ask the Defence Force for help? Did they at least put together a plan of what could be possible? And who made the call not to?
This week, Police Minister Mark Mitchell defended the way police have handled the case.
“Right from the first day of that operation, the welfare of those children have been at the forefront of police’s minds and everything that they’ve done,” he told reporters.
Mitchell hit out at those saying he’s a hero and just a father doing his best for his kids. How did he describe him?
“He’s a monster,” Mitchell says.
“When Kiwis see these kids and what has been inflicted on them, the way they’ve been treated, the way they’ve been put in harm’s way, the way they haven’t been able to grow up as normal Kiwi kids, the conditions they’re living in, the risk he was willing to put them at, they’ll be starting to figure that out,” he gave as his rationalisation.
The problem is, it’s too late. If the police minister thinks this man is a monster, it’s reasonable to ask could they have done more?
And they weren’t able to, tell us why.
