“There’s three children still missing with a criminal at large,” Cat said.
Footage emerged on Saturday of Phillips and his three children tramping in remote central North Island farmland, wearing camo gear and carrying large packs after a chance encounter with pig hunters.
“They shouldn’t have to be worrying about where they’re going to sleep that night or whether they’re going to be warm.
“It’s like every day [I’m] grieving … 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 when she spoke to the Herald about getting proof her three children – who she last saw in 2021 – were alive.
“It was overwhelming, it was amazing, it was the best thing.”
“I just broke down … I can’t see their faces but I can see them walking and they’re all there, and they’re capable of carrying their own bags.”
While the photos provided some solace for Cat, it proved to be short-lived as police were still unable to locate the children.
“It was like Christmas come early and I really thought they would be coming home this time.
“It’s a confirmed sighting and yet nothing has come of it.”
After a three-day search, including the use of a military helicopter, “nothing further of significance” was found according to police.
Cat said it now feels like finding her three missing children is “out of the police’s league.”
“I would have expected them to have feet on the ground, not marked cop cars driving around the area.
“I would expect them to be out there covert, not drawing attention to the situation,” Cat said.
She said she was “eternally grateful” to the 16-year-old pig hunter who was brave enough to capture evidence of Phillips with the children.
“I am so grateful to him and I cannot express myself enough because so many people see things out there and they don’t have the courage to come forward.”
The young man saw Phillips was carrying a gun and didn’t take the interaction any further, but called 111 and spoke to police.
“It was better than winning Lotto,” Cat said.
Cat said that after years on the run, she wants her children to live again and “not just survive”.
‘He doesn’t care for them, they’re just pawns in this game’
Cat says there were early warning signs that Phillips was capable of doing what he did.
“There were things put in place that theoretically should have prevented this from happening.
“It should have been stopped a long time ago, I can’t believe that this has been allowed to happen. It’s like the system really doesn’t care.
“Regardless of what I have been saying, every step of the way nobody listened to me, I was just ignored, time and time again, minimised, gaslit and yet, look where we are.”
The Herald cannot report details about the custody of the Phillips children because, in New Zealand, it is prohibited to report Family Court proceedings.
Phillips sparked an extensive search and rescue operation when he vanished for the first time with his three young children on September 11, 2021.
“I was not notified for a couple of days after the children first disappeared when Thomas’ truck was parked in the water.
“But straight away, I said to the police, it’s a decoy,” Cat said.
The family returned home three weeks later, but on December 9 an arrest warrant was issued for Phillips after he failed to appear before court.
“He’s trying to teach me a lesson,” Cat said.
“He doesn’t care for them, they’re just pawns in this game.”
While on the run, Phillips has allegedly committed several crimes, some of which he appeared to involve the children in.
Phillips allegedly stole 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 shop shows the masked pair smashing the front glass and fleeing north after the alarm was set off about 2am.
“It’s unbelievable, really, who does that sort of thing? That should speak to a person’s frame of mind if they find that acceptable.
“They’re innocent, they do not deserve this,” Cat said.
She said she could understand police taking caution in their approach towards Phillips because “his mindset is scary.”
“Who might potentially get caught in the crossfire?” Cat asked.
But she believed the longer he is “allowed to carry on like this,” he was increasingly “gaining power,”
“He thinks he’s above everybody.”
Cat spoke out publicly for the first time in June when police offered an $80,000 reward for information leading to the safe return of the children.
Police confirmed they spoke to members of Phillips’ family about joining a public appeal for information, but they chose not to speak out.
“I have friends and family, but the support I’ve had through the system has basically been non-existent.”
Cat says her two older daughters, Storm and Jubilee, have been her “rocks” while her life has been turned upside down.
“They help me get back up when I’m down and they push me along.”
It’s hard for her to talk about her children because she’s aware 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 nearly three years later.
“I can only remember them as they were because that’s all I know.
“I know I know that they will still be there … It’s just gonna take a little while for them to shine like they did before.”
Cat said she knows her children, very close in age, will be looking after each other, but she wants them to know they haven’t been forgotten.
“I love them so much.
“We miss them and they’re amazing and they’re so strong and then we just, we’re waiting here, we’re waiting for them to come back.
“We’re waiting with open arms.”
“If the system had listened to me in the beginning instead of judging me based on the words of somebody who essentially has been dumped, we wouldn’t be in this situation.
“But nobody wanted to listen… but now they’re gonna hear me.”
Cat recognised Tom Phillips in Bunnings carpark and pursued him in car
Cat told RNZ she was the first person to spot Phillips at Bunnings last year during a sighting confirmed by police in August 2023.
She recognised her former partner at the Hamilton Bunnings car park.
Bunnings images showed Phillips wearing a disguise when he visited the Te Rapa store to purchase goods.
Cat said she was suspicious of a ute in the car park and wondered if it was connected to her former partner.
She told RNZ she stopped in front of the ute and recognised Phillips through his disguise.
“It was just the way he put his head up because I just had a feeling about that ute.”
She believes Phillips recognised her, drove off and she gave chase. When they stopped at a red light she took images of the ute and thought about getting out but was worried it might instead be a member of the public.
She said she continued to follow Phillips but he cut in front of a bus and turned down a side street where she lost him. She pulled over and contact police about the sighting.
Jaime Lyth is a multimedia journalist for the New Zealand Herald, focusing on crime and breaking news. Lyth began working under the NZ Herald masthead in 2021 as a reporter for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei.