The parents of Tom Phillips, who disappeared with his three children in the New Zealand wilderness in 2021, have publicly apologized – their first comments since Phillips was shot dead by police on September 8.
“We would like to sincerely apologize … for any trouble, inconvenience, loss of privacy and property caused by Tom,” Neville and Julia Phillips wrote Thursday in a letter published in the King Country News, a small community newspaper.
“We have not in any way supported him or condoned his actions over the past four years. We are truly sorry for everything you have had to endure.”
Phillips evaded capture for nearly four years, despite a nationwide search and multiple sightings.
He was killed in a shootout in September, in which a police officer was seriously injured.
The officer has now been released from hospital, local media report.
One of his children had been with him during the shooting and provided information to help locate Phillips’ two other children later that day.
Before Phillips disappeared with his children, they lived in Marokopa, a small rural town in the Waikato region, surrounded by dense bush and wooded terrain.
“The vast area in which Phillips held the children is difficult, steep terrain almost completely obscured from all angles by dense brush,” Detective Ross McKay said weeks after the fatal shooting.
Police’s main objective during the operation was “to locate and safely return the children,” he said. He added that they “knew Phillips had firearms and were motivated to use them.”
Police said they could not provide further details due to the ongoing investigation.
Phillips’ family had previously publicly called for him to return.
In a message to Phillips during a television interview, his sister Rozzi said “we are ready to help you walk through what you need to walk through”.
Phillips’ mother Julia also wrote him a letter – to New Zealand outlet Stuff – saying she hoped every day that “today will be the day you all come home”.
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