Mark Tromp, the father of the family embroiled in one of the odder ordeals of the past few weeks, has broken his silence over his family’s debacle of a road trip, thanking police for their effort and saying that he hopes to “make sense” of what went down.
Tromp and his wife Jacoba caused a major NSW police search operation after they went missing while on a road trip with their three adult children Mitch, Riana and Ella. The adult children became separated from Mark and Jacoba when they began to act strangely.
While Tromp was last seen giving a middle finger to waiting media, his struck a far more conciliatory tone in a statement today, saying that he “apologises for the hurt and concern caused by these events.”
“I am conscious of the burden these events have placed upon our extended family, friends and the community resources devoted to our aid.” he wrote.
He urged media outlets to respect the privacy of his family as they try to unpick what happened with them. “More than anything, my family and I need time to recover and receive appropriate assistance, including mental health services.”
“To this end, we request that media organisations respect our request for privacy.”
If you don’t recall the frankly bizarre timeline of the Tromp ordeal, Mark was located on Saturday near Wangaratta, several days after it was reported that he was involved in an incident where he tailgated a young couple in their vehicle. Son Mitch said that before the family’s impromptu trip, his father had become paranoid after a “build-up of different, normal everyday events”.
“It’s really hard to explain or put a word on it but they were just fearing for their lives and then they decided to flee,” Mitch said later.
We’re likely drawing to the end of this particular saga, and we may not know precisely what went wrong that day – here’s hoping the family gets the help they need.
Source: The Age.
Photo: Supplied.
