By Sam Sherwood of RNZ
An urgent injunction preventing the media from publishing certain details related to the investigation into Tom Phillips and his family will be heard in the High Court tomorrow.
Tom Phillips died after a shootout with police called to reports of a burglary in the early hours of Monday. A police officer was shot multiple times in the head during the shootout and remains in hospital with significant injuries which police have described as “survivable”.
One of Phillips’ children, who was with him at the time, then began assisting police and said there were firearms at the campsite.
More than 12 hours later the remaining children were located in a remote campsite, deep in dense bush about 2km away from where Phillips was fatally shot.
On Monday evening, lawyer Linda Clark, acting for the Phillips family, went to the High Court in Wellington seeking an urgent injunction.
The injunction, which prevented media, police and Oranga Tamariki from publishing certain details related to the case, was granted by Justice Cull.
The interim order lasted 48 hours, with the matter to be called in the High Court at Wellington tomorrow.
Media organisations, including RNZ, will be heard on the matter.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers said Phillips was “no hero”.
“No one who does this to children is a hero. No one who unleashes a high-powered weapon on one of my officers is a hero.”
Police Minister Mark Mitchell reiterated Chambers’ comments to Mata.
“I understand that maybe there’s a small part of our society that may see him in that light.
“I think most fair-minded Kiwis would say that a father that takes his children into the bush like that, four years with firearms and depriving them of a normal childhood and upbringing, putting them in dangerous situations through his own continued violent offending … that’s not a hero, that’s not a good father, that’s a father that seems to be more focused on their own needs than the needs and the safety of their own children.”
About 2.30am on Monday police received a call from a Piopio resident to say they believed they were witnessing a burglary in action at PGG Wrightson.
The burglary involved two people on a quad bike dressed in farm clothing and wearing head lamps.
“Knowing the information that we had previously had that had seen Tom Phillips also in this area, additional staff were called out and responded to that location,” Deputy Police Commissioner Jill Rogers earlier told media.
A quad bike was seen leaving the area along the Waipuna Rd, a gravel road that intersects with Te Anga Rd, the main road leading back to Marokopa.
A constable then decided to lay road spikes at the intersection about 3.20am.
The quad bike then ran over the spikes, with the bike coming to a rest a short time later.
The constable, who was first on the scene, came across the bike and was confronted by gunfire at close range and was shot in the head multiple times.
“He was getting out of the vehicle and has fallen to the ground. He’s taken cover back in the vehicle,” Rogers said.
A second patrol car then arrived and “engaged” Phillips who was shot and died at the scene.
One of Phillips’ children was then taken into custody uninjured.
The officer was then flown to Waikato Hospital by the Westpac Rescue in a critical condition.
Once he arrived in hospital he was conscious and was able to speak to some of his colleagues.
-RNZ