“There are still three children missing because there is a criminal on the loose,” Cat said.

On Saturday, footage emerged of Phillips and his three children trudging through remote farmland in the center of the North Island in camouflage clothing and carrying large backpacks after a chance encounter with pig hunters.

“They shouldn’t have to worry about where they’re going to sleep that night or whether they’re going to be warm.

“It’s like I grieve every day…the loss of three childhoods, the loss of innocence, the loss of my babies, they deserve better.”

Seeing her three children alive was “overwhelming”

Cat was emotional as she spoke to him Herald about getting proof that her three children – whom she last saw in 2021 – were alive.

“It was overwhelming, it was incredible, it was the best.”

“I just broke down… I can’t see their faces, but I can see them walking and they’re all there and they’re able to carry their own bags.”

While the photos provided some comfort to Cat, this proved to be short-lived as police still could not find the children.

“It was like Christmas came early and I really thought they would come home this time.

“It is a confirmed sighting and yet nothing has come of it.”

After a three-day search, which included the use of a military helicopter, “nothing of substance” was found, according to police.

Cat said it now feels like the search for her three missing children is “out of the police’s league”.

“I would have expected them to have both feet on the ground and not with marked police cars driving around.

“I’m assuming they’re staying undercover and not drawing attention to the situation,” Cat said.

She said she is “forever grateful” to the 16-year-old pig hunter who was brave enough to join the children in gathering evidence for Phillips.

“I’m so grateful for him and I can’t express myself enough because so many people see things out there and don’t have the courage to speak up.”

The young man saw Phillips carrying a gun and did not pursue the interaction further, instead calling 911 and speaking to police.

“It was better than winning the lottery,” Cat said.

Cat said she wanted her children to live again and “not just survive” after years on the run.

“He doesn’t care about them, they are just pawns in this game”

Cat says there were early warning signs that Phillips was capable of what he did.

“Measures were taken that, in theory, should have prevented this.

“It should have been stopped a long time ago, I can’t believe this was allowed to happen. It’s like the system really doesn’t care.

“No matter what I said, every step of the way no one listened to me, I was repeatedly ignored, minimized, gaslighted and yet look where we are.”

The Herald cannot comment on custody of the Phillips children as reporting on family court proceedings is prohibited in New Zealand.

Phillips sparked an extensive search and rescue operation when he first disappeared with his three young children on September 11, 2021.

“I wasn’t notified for a few days after the children first went missing when Thomas’ truck was parked in the water.

“But I immediately told the police it was a decoy,” Cat said.

The family returned home three weeks later, but a warrant was issued for Phillips’ arrest on December 9 after he failed to appear in court.

“He’s trying to teach me a lesson,” Cat said.

“He doesn’t care about them, they’re just pawns in this game.”

While on the run, Phillips is said to have committed several crimes, some of which he appeared to have involved the children.

Phillips is alleged to have stolen a quad bike from a rural Waikato property and then broke into a shop with one of his children on November 2.

Security footage from the Piopio store shows the masked couple smashing the front window and fleeing north after the alarm went off around 2am.

“It’s really unbelievable, who does something like that? This should appeal to a person’s state of mind if they find it acceptable.

“They’re innocent, they don’t deserve this,” Cat said.

She said she could understand police being cautious about Phillips because “his mindset was scary.”

“Who could possibly get caught in the crossfire?” Katze asked.

But she believed that the longer he was “allowed to carry on like this,” the more “power he would gain.”

“He thinks he’s above everyone.”

Cat first spoke out publicly in June, when police offered an $80,000 reward for information leading to the children’s safe return.

Police confirmed they had spoken to members of Phillips’ family about joining a public appeal for information, but chose not to comment.

“I have friends and family, but the support I received through the system was basically non-existent.”

Cat says her two older daughters, Storm and Jubilee, have been her “rock” while her life has been turned upside down.

“They help me get back up when I’m down and they push me along.”

She finds it difficult to talk about her children because she is aware that things will have changed after years of living in the bush without school, medical treatment and under the control of their fugitive father.

“I know what they were like before, but this is almost three years later.

“I can only remember them as they were because that’s all I know.

“I know, I know they’ll still be there… It’ll just take a while for them to shine like before.”

Cat said she knows her children, who are very similar in age, will look out for each other, but she wants them to know they haven’t been forgotten.

“I love her so much.

“We miss them and they’re great and they’re so strong and then we’re just waiting here, we’re waiting for them to come back.

“We are waiting with open arms.”

“If the system had listened to me from the start instead of judging me based on the words of someone who was essentially rejected, we wouldn’t be in this situation.

“But no one wanted to listen… but now they will hear me.”

Cat recognized Tom Phillips in the Bunnings car park and chased him in the car

Cat told RNZ she was the first person to see Phillips last year in a police-confirmed sighting in Bunnings in August 2023.

She recognized her former partner in the Hamilton Bunnings car park.

Bunning’s pictures showed Phillips in disguise as he visited the Te Rapa store to buy goods.

Cat said she was suspicious of a car in the parking lot and wondered if it had something to do with her former partner.

She told RNZ she pulled up in front of the ute and recognized Phillips by his fairing.

“It was just the way he lifted his head because I just had a feel for that ute.”

She believes Phillips recognized her, drove off and gave chase. When they stopped at a red light, she took photos of the subway and thought about getting off, but feared it might be a member of the public instead.

She said she continued to follow Phillips, but he ran in front of a bus and turned onto a side street where she lost him. She stopped and called the police about the sighting.

Jaime Lyth is a multimedia journalist for the New Zealand Heraldwith a focus on crime and breaking news. Lyth began working under the NZ Herald Imprint in 2021 as a reporter for the Lawyer of the North in Whangarei.