The mother of a man who was killed in a hit-and-run and left on a grass verge overnight after police failed to send an officer out until morning says she’s still waiting for police to acknowledge the pain she went through, and tell her they’re sorry.
At 3am on January 24, 2023, 41-year-old Kerry Phillips was walking on the grass verge of a dark rural road in the small town of Benneydale in the Waitomo District when he was hit by a car.
It was only a few hundred metres away from where his brother Lloyd Phillips died 14 years before, after he was thrown from his car following a crash.
His family - who did not want to be named due to fears of retaliation from the man who hit Kerry - have said January 23 had been Lloyd’s birthday, and they believed Kerry may have been walking down the road after visiting the site of his death.
“There’s no Ubers or taxis out in Benneydale, it’s a very remote town, so it’s not unusual to see people walking home after a night out,” Kerry’s mum said, speaking surrounded by her family members in the lounge of her Tauranga home.
“Kerry didn’t have an easy life,” she said, her voice catching, “but he was a very hard worker who always helped anyone who needed it. He had a good heart and he loved his family.”
There were issues with the police investigation from the start, his mum said, which led to the family laying a complaint with the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA), that Valentine’s Day.
The man who hit Kerry did not stop and instead drove to the house of his mother where he told her he “may have hit a person”. His mum later called 111 to report what happened.
Photo / RNZ / Susan Strongman
The driver’s mother said her son “didn’t know” if he had hit an animal or a person, and the call taker decided to give the call a priority two rather than a priority one.
A discussion between police officers on duty that night decided not to go to the scene - which would take an hour’s drive - until morning as it could have been an animal and limited officers were available, an IPCA report into the incident found.
It wasn’t until around 8am, when an officer arrived, that Kerry’s body was found lying on the grass verge.
Kerry’s mum had no idea anything had happened to her son until she got home from work that night around 6pm, and received a call from her ex-husband.
“He called me and told me Kerry was dead and our world stood still after that”.
Kerry’s grandad said one of the most upsetting things was that the police never called his mum to tell her what had happened.
It had been a “mad panic” after the news was broken, Kerry’s mum said, with her sister trying to get information on where Kerry’s body was being held, what happened to him and who they needed to speak to.
She said that experience had been “harrowing”.
“I struggle with the fact police didn’t let me know themselves - I’m his mother. It was the first of many failings.”
One of Kerry’s aunts said she had to call the mortuary at Waikato Hospital and was able to confirm he was there and an autopsy was being done.
“There was no support offered to us, which if we’d been formally notified we would have been given. It was a battle from the word go.”
She said it was “worrying” for all New Zealanders living in rural areas to know police may not respond due to the time it would take at night.
“Many parts of our country are rural like Benneydale, so for them to decide somewhere is too far away to drive to in an emergency, how safe does that make the rest of New Zealanders feel?”
Kerry’s younger sister said to this day police had never shown up on their doorstep to give them information.
The IPCA report into the incident was released last week and found the call taker should have given the job a higher priority and police should have sent a car as soon as they got the emergency call.
“That decision was an error in judgment,” the IPCA said.
Kerry’s mum said due to the length of time it took for officers to attend, precious evidence which could have helped the criminal investigation were lost.
“It’s a main road with trucks going up and down it all the time, because of the hours that had passed and the fact the driver hadn’t stayed at the scene, a lot of evidence was already gone.”
As a result, the man who hit and killed Kerry was charged with one count of failing to stop and ascertain injury after a crash. He was sentenced to seven months home detention.
Kerry’s family have said they still find it hard to believe the driver didn’t know he had hit a person as they had scene pictures of the car and the front was “completely crushed”.
His mum said she couldn’t stomach looking at the car, but her family members had described the front windscreen as being almost impossible to see out of.
“There’s no way you wouldn’t know with that kind of damage you hit a person,” Kerry’s granddad said.
Kerry had been more than six feet tall, his younger sister said, and would be “hard to miss”.
‘Just say sorry’
In the wake of the IPCA report, police put out a media release in which superintendent Bruce Bird said a review into the incident occurred and they also found the call should have been given higher priority and an officer sent straight away.
Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Bruce Bird. Photo / RNZ / Dom Thomas
“The report notes a pathologist’s advice was that the man would have died instantly, and any medical intervention would not have prevented his death.
“We recognise while responding at the time sadly may not have changed the outcome, it was a shortcoming in our response,” Bird said.
The officers involved had been spoken to, Bird said.
Kerry’s mum said she was not happy with the response from police and she wanted police to acknowledge her and her side of the family and say sorry to them.
“An apology would’ve been very nice,” Kerry’s granddad said, “but we’re still waiting”.
The experience with police had left Kerry’s mum “feeling empty”, she said, and there were no winners in the situation regardless.
“I just want the police to be human and treat us with respect and for them to put their hand up and say yes we’re really sorry”.
Kerry’s aunt said her nephew was unable to get the justice he deserved because of the failings identified in the IPCA findings and the family wanted to know what changes had been made to stop other families having to go through the same trauma.
It was “sad” it had come to making a complaint to the IPCA, Kerry’s mum said.
“Police are meant to look after us and if we didn’t make this complaint nothing would have happened. There’s been no justice for my son - the whole thing seems senseless.”
Questions were put to the police about the lack of apology or in person contact with the family, but a police spokesperson said they had “nothing to add” to their IPCA media release and said it was “important to note” the matter is before the Coroner.
“My understanding is that an in-person apology has been made to family members, although perhaps not to specific family members you have been speaking to”.
