Mother of missing Phillips children releases video ‘begging’ for help to find them

Tuesday, 18 June 2024

Cat, the mother of Ember, Maverick and Jayda Phillips, who remain missing, has spoken out on Jayda's 11th birthday.

The mother of three children missing in Marokopa is pleading with the public to help bring them home.

Catherine, released a video on Facebook accusing Thomas Phillips of child neglect.

Jayda, 10, Maverick, 9 and Ember, 8, have not been seen since December 2021 after their father Thomas Phillips took them to an unknown location.

The mother of three children missing in Marokopa has released a video asking for the public to help bring her children home.

Jayda, 11, Maverick, 9 and Ember, 8, have not been seen since December 2021 after their father Thomas Phillips took them to a location unknown but thought to be in western Waikato within Marokopa or the surrounding areas.

Now, their mother Catherine is calling on people to help find them.

“I am standing before you here today, begging for your help to bring my babies home,” she says in the video released on Facebook.

The mother of three children missing in Marokopa.

“They are just innocent children, they do not deserve to be treated this way, they do not deserve the life that is being provided to them right now,” she added.

The video, released Tuesday, marks one week since the offer of an $80,000 reward was announced for information leading to the safe return of the three children.

It is also Jayda’s eleventh birthday, something Catherine alludes to in the video.

“She will be a young woman now and she needs her mother,” Catherine said.

Tom Phillips, with his children Jayda, Maverick, and Ember.

She went on to accuse Phillips of child abuse and neglect.

“What Thomas is doing is not OK. It is not OK to divide and conquer, to isolate and control.”

“It is child neglect, it is child abandonment, it is child abuse. My babies deserve better,” she added.

In the last week, the police say they have had over 100 new reports of information on Phillips and are continuing to assess the information and conduct follow-up enquiries.

They say they have identified 40 reports worthy of consideration which are now being investigated further.

Marokopa continues to be the focus for the ongoing investigation, however, enquiries are also being carried-out in surrounding areas including Honikiwi and Otorohanga.

Police are asking anyone who has observed suspicious behaviour in these areas in recent months to contact them.