Marokopa mystery: the mother of the missing children breaks the silence

The mother of the missing Phillips children asked for people’s help to return them to her.

Today marks a week since police offered an $80,000 reward for information leading to their whereabouts. He is also one of the 11 year old children.

Ember, Maverick and Jayda Phillips have been missing with their father for two and a half years. Police believe they are in the Marokopa region, in Pays Roi.

Today their mother, Cat, said she was pleading for people’s help to find them.

In a video provided by police, she said: “They are just innocent children. They don’t deserve to be treated this way.

“They don’t deserve the life they are being given right now.”

Referring to her daughter’s birthday, Cat said: “She will be a young woman now and she needs her mother.”

Her other daughter, Ember, was asthmatic and needed medical care “that can’t be provided from land,” Cat said.

“And I can only imagine how Maverick is coping with the hand life has dealt him.

“Many of you say that the children are doing well, that they are being well taken care of.

“How do you know? Have you seen them? Or is this just bush talk?”

She then took aim at her ex-husband, Tom, accusing him of neglect, endangerment, abandonment and child abuse.

“What Thomas is doing is not acceptable. It is not acceptable to divide and conquer.

“It is not acceptable to isolate and endanger.

“None of this is okay. My babies deserve better.”

She concluded by asking anyone with information to call police.

In a statement accompanying the video, Acting Detective Inspector Andrew Saunders said the children’s mother wanted privacy but felt it was important to mark her daughter’s birthday.

He said police had received more than 100 new tips through phone calls, emails and personal contacts since the reward was announced.

“We continue to evaluate the information and conduct follow-up investigations.

“As a result of our investigations, we have identified 40 reports that we believe merit further investigation and are currently being investigated.”

Although details of the leads have not been shared, police remain determined to “get a result”.

“While Marokopa continues to be the focus of the ongoing investigation, inquiries are ongoing in surrounding areas, including Honikiwi and Otorohanga, and we are appealing to anyone who has observed suspicious behavior in these areas in recent months to contact the police.”

Checkpoints in the small coastal town of Marokopa were lifted last Friday, as local residents grew frustrated with the presence of large numbers of police.

He repeated his earlier calls for anyone with credible information to contact us via [email protected] or 105 or (105.police.govt.nz online).

Reward offer expires next week.