To think this father who’s been on the run with his kids for three years needs finding

[DanielaDressen]

Really bizarre story. Sounds like they’ve been living in the bush for the last few years interspersed with a spot of armed bank robbery. They were recently sighted and the police searched the area for three days and then called the search off! After three days!

Those poor kids shouldn’t be living like this. Sounds like the police think any further searching is pointless

www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350449273/search-tom-phillips-cop-reveals-dangers-task-hand www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350449273/search-tom-phillips-cop-reveals-dangers-task-hand]]]]

Yeah I'm not justifying it.

I can just see how it could happen.

Apparently he is living in a very anti-establishment , anti- government area

They like rebelling against the authorities.

They're never going to turn him in

A RNZAF aircraft with IR and Thermal sensors would be able to pick them up at night fairly easily.

The kids are probably learning a lot of extremely useful life skills on a positive note.

Its just heart breaking.

Because even though this is an extreme case.

One parent running away with children happens a lot.

People have such strong love for their children, they can't bare to lose them, and they end up making terrible extreme decisions .

I'm actually a member of an online group of people who have been through this kind of experience. There are so so many stories

Found the other thread now. Also found a fb page dedicated to finding them, there really aren’t a lot of posts about it even on the dedicated fb page.

This was the most relevant post from the other thread. The woman lives in New Zealand.

'I’m in NZ, and live close to this area.The guy is armed and has been known for disappearing with his kids previously. He has also been involved in an armed robbery of a bank.
General consensus around here is that the police can’t do much until he surrenders? There’s been many checkpoints, police helicopter etc searches but they haven’t turned up much. The bush is extremely dense in this area, though, and police have been searching. He is probably hiding in farmers huts or on family land and is definitely being helped, hence the evasion of police.
the reason why most believe nothing much can be done until he surrenders as there is every possibility things would end in a murder-suicide situation with the children caught up in crossfire.
Also most definitely think there’s people helping him in the bush, the area he is from has strong anti-government, anti-police sentiments from some people. Many still think he is doing the right thing by breaking custody and thus “proving a point” to the mother.'

I think that people in the area are a bit afraid of getting involved with him

But yes I agree, there should be more effort.

If he has custody, is the only thing he has done wrong legally the armed robbery?

Wow, what a wild story.

I don't think you can assume that the children are having a terrible time. They might not be. If their mother is a drug addict than they may well be better off. For all we know, they are having a better childhood than many kids with a drug addicted mother, living in some scummy flat and going to a crappy sink school.

I hope they are OK, and whatever story he has woven for them, it's not one that frightens them. Sounds like they have family support. It'll make a good book one day if any of them fancy writing a memoir.

Does he definitely have custody.

I've seen different places saying different things.

One said he had full custody. Other places are saying that he had joint custody.

Surely they wouldn't have said he abducted them, if he had full custody.

I just looked at a different news article.

It says that he doesn't have custody.

It says that the mother has full custody.

Probably going round the wilderness with him is not great for them though. And they should be allowed to see their mother.

They haven't seen her in three years.

I just saw that he brought the children with him when he robbed the bank.

The mother also said that one of the girls has asthma and she is very concerned about her being in the wilderness.

Yeah he doesnt sound like a nice man.

What about the kids schooling?

I can't imagine children not having any social interaction or medical care or dental care or any education for years while living rough in the bush with their insane gun toting father on the run from an armed robbery charge is a great lifestyle. It is not proving a point to their mother.

Yeah and one of the kids has asthma

Did he rob the bank to survive?

I've just seen a picture of him on a motorbike with one of the children riding away from the bank robbery

Yeah he doesn't sound like the most stable person.

Plenty of people unschool or home educate, from boats or whatever. I don't know the law in NZ though.

Obviously robbing banks and keeping the kids from their mum is not right.

I still remember the collective relief felt across NZ when he walked out of the bush with those kids the first time he disappeared with them - everyone thought they were dead by that point and had gone missing on a tramp. I think he did have shared care of the children when he disappeared with them the first time but breaching the care order and being summoned to court to answer to charges on disappearing and costs of the search and rescue operation led to him going on the run again. In NZ, children can also be placed into the custody of the chief executive of oranga tamariki (child welfare) and I think that’s what’s happened here when they say he doesn’t have legal custody of the children anymore.

It's proving he has the power to take them and keep them and punish her. It's not unusual for men to kidnap children to punish their ex wives.

New Zealand has its fair share of conspiracy theorist nutters, along with a bit of a number 8 wire macho bushman fetish.