The mother of the missing Marokopa children was in court on a driving charge just hours after her former husband Tom Phillips was shot dead, and while police were searching for the remaining children.
Amid Monday morning’s developments in the four-year search for her children, Catherine Christey appeared in the Te Kūiti District Court on a charge of driving with excess blood alcohol after being stopped by police last month.
The 46-year-old, known as Cat, hasn’t seen her children, Jayda, 12, Maverick, 10, and Ember, 9, since Phillips took them in December 2021.
However, after a tip-off from a member of the public that Phillips was involved in the burglary of the PGG Wrightson store in Piopio during the early hours of Monday morning, a police officer took chase.
Road spikes were laid by police on Te Anga Rd, anticipating that it would be the route Phillips would take. And it was.
But Phillips fired an unknown number of shots from a high-powered rifle, hitting the officer in the head, while four bullets struck his patrol car.
Police returned fire, and Phillips was shot dead.
Jayda was also at the scene and taken away by police.
She helped lead police to her younger siblings, about 2km away, and told them what to say to gain their trust.
Christey, who lives in rural Ōtorohanga, faces a charge of driving with an excess blood level of 174mg on Tauraroa Valley Rd, Waimahora, on August 2.
In New Zealand, the legal limit for drivers aged 20 and over is 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.
She was remanded to reappear in court next month.
When asked for comment on the charge, and having to appear in court on the day her children were found, a relative of Christey’s told NZME, “we have asked for privacy”.
At an earlier press conference, Detective Senior Sergeant Andrew Saunders wouldn’t be drawn on when the children would be reunited with their mother.
Christey’s former employer revealed she had worked at a Waitomo farm in the past 12 months, about 200m from where Phillips was shot.
Te Anga Rd farmers Clive and Sandra Morgan said Christey was employed at their property gorse spraying.
The Morgans told NZME they had nothing but praise for Cat and the difficult years without her children.
“She’s a good lady, very strong, physically, very normal and intelligent,” said Clive.
He said she was a talented sheep shearer, forced to live with the fact that her kids had been taken and missing for more than three years.
Meanwhile, new video from inside the police cordon shows vast quantities of what’s believed to be Phillips’ belongings seized by officers investigating his secret hideouts.
NZME’s footage was filmed down a narrow, tree-lined gravel track and is 7km from where Phillips was shot dead by police in an early morning shootout.
Phillips’ quad bike and motorbike, discovered by police at the first campsite, are seen next to an air compressor and a pile of debris.
Police earlier released “grim” photos of a second campsite discovered about 200m away from the first site where the younger children were found on Monday.
The photos show a large bivouac built on a hillside and trenches built out for sleeping.
“It’s a very grim, dimly-lit area, surrounded by dense bush,” Saunders said.
“The tent was well covered and dry.”
“We are currently looking at a number of items at the site. Aside from the burglaries we are now able to link to Tom, it is apparent that he had outside help.”
A makeshift kitchen with a propane camping stove and gas canister sits below a bench made out of a large black carry case.
The case is home to around seven bottles of iced coffee and a Jack Daniel’s box. A silver mug sits beside the box.
Other images show building materials like a roll of chicken wire.
Several buckets, including the Mitre 10 buckets Phillips was often seen with, sheets of metal, jars holding screws and nails and plastic bottles are also scattered around.
A black tarp is being held up with branches as poles, tied together with rope. Some of the chicken wire is also being used as roofing.
Other items included in the pictures are a pair of adult-sized gumboots and a dome tent.
The roof of the campsite blended well with the ground, with thick ferns and trees covering it from all sides, making it difficult to find from above.
Saunders said police understand the site has been the main campsite of Phillips and his children in recent months.
He said the area was difficult to access and well-hidden, which highlights the challenging environment the family used as their base.
The first site, which police released images of on Tuesday, was stocked with firearms, multiple wheels, a jerry can, multiple Sprite cans, and large glass bottles.
Waikato district Commander Inspector Andrea McBeth said on Wednesday the injured police officer remained in a serious and stable condition.
“I have a message from the family members of Officer A who thank the public and police for the support and the messages they have received.”
He said Operation Curly, the search for Phillips and the children, had now come to a close.
However, the next phase, Operation Cranmer, now began.
That would focus on those who had been helping Phillips during his years on the run.
Officers were investigating where the items found at the camps had come from.
“Have people purchased them?
“Can we link them back to stores to see if he has stolen them or have people purchased them for him?”
Police believe Phillips had multiple sites out in the bush, but “the number I couldn’t tell you”, he said.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 10 years and has been a journalist for 21.