Police appeal for sightings
Missing man believed to have stolen quad bike
Missing Marokopa man Tom Phillips has allegedly stolen a quad bike from a rural Waikato property and then broken into a shop with one of his children.
Police are appealing for any sightings from the public of Phillips, his children or the quad bike stolen just under a fortnight ago. Security footage from the Piopio shop shows the masked pair smashing the front glass and fleeing north after the alarm was set off about 2am on November 2.
The red farm-style quad bike, with no registration, was reported stolen from a Marokopa Rd property in Te Anga earlier that day.
Phillips spray-painted the security cameras around the shop he allegedly tried to break into, a neighbouring business owner told the Herald.
The shopkeeper at the store on the corner of Ruru and Moa streets Phillips targeted refused to speak about the incident.
Acting Detective Inspector Andrew Saunders asked anyone with information, “no matter how small”, to speak to police, saying an email address had been set up specifically for tip-offs to Phillips’ whereabouts.
“We cannot stress enough how important the community is to locating ... Phillips and his family,” Saunders said.
Phillips and his children Jayda, now aged 9, Maverick, 8, and Ember, 6, first went missing in September 2021, sparking a massive ground, sea and air search.
He and his children turned up almost three weeks later, on September 30, revealing they had been living in a tent in dense bush. But questions lingered about why he disappeared.
In October 2021, police charged Phillips with wasteful deployment of police resources.
He didn’t show up at the Te Kuiti District Court for his first appearance on January 12, 2022 and a warrant was then issued for Phillips’ arrest.
He and his children haven’t been seen since December 9, 2021.
The search for Phillips and his three children ramped up after a sighting of him on August 2, 19 months after they disappeared.
Since being spotted in August, police revealed Phillips was wanted for allegedly robbing a bank while on the run.
Bank robbery, shots fired at supermarket worker
Police charged Phillips with aggravated robbery, aggravated wounding and unlawfully possessing a firearm over the armed heist of ANZ Te Kūiti on Rora St on May 16.
Saunders said people shouldn’t “take action” if they saw Phillips as he “still potentially has firearms in his possession”.
The pair then fled the scene on a black, farm-style motorcycle, Saunders said.
Flurry of sightings
Phillips was spotted four times in August, where he went shopping at two different Bunnings Warehouses, got into a fight with a member of the public and allegedly stole a car.
Police released security footage from Phillips’ excursion to Bunnings on Wednesday, August 2, where he wore a beanie, glasses and a surgical mask.
Phillips’ trip to Bunnings was one of four sightings: the first at 12.30pm in Pokuru, south of Te Awamutu, the second between 3pm and 4pm at Bunnings on Kahikatea Dr and the third at 4pm at another Bunnings in Te Rapa, Hamilton.
The fourth sighting of Phillips was in Kāwhia at 6.45pm, where he was involved in an altercation with a member of the public. Police believed he was driving a stolen Toyota Hilux captured on security footage.
The owner of the ute was involved in the altercation, pursuing Phillips while he was driving the vehicle and trying to run him off the road, Newshub reported. The owner discovered winter clothes and other items missing from their property that would be useful for a stay in the bush, Newshub reported.