A CCTV still from outside a Hobsonsville Woolworth's in West Auckland shows Malachi Betham (red square) firing a shotgun at a passing vehicle while twin brother Elijah Betham and an unknown associate with a machete (yellow square) beat a Facebook Marketplace seller. Photo / NZ Police
A CCTV still from outside a Hobsonsville Woolworth's in West Auckland shows Malachi Betham (red square) firing a shotgun at a passing vehicle while twin brother Elijah Betham and an unknown associate with a machete (yellow square) beat a Facebook Marketplace seller. Photo / NZ Police
Twin brothers who carried out a violent armed robbery outside an Auckland supermarket, resulting in a shotgun blast and an attempted murder charge, will now face a possible prison term together.
Malachi Christian Betham, 25, agreed this week to plead guilty to an alternative charge of discharging afirearm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Like the original attempted murder charge, it carries a maximum possible sentence of 14 years’ imprisonment.
His plea came just two weeks after his brother, Elijah Ernest Frank Betham, pleaded guilty to assault with intent to rob, also punishable by up to 14 years.
Court documents state the victims were lured to the Hobsonville Countdown carpark around 4pm on Sept 16 last year after offering a diamond sovereign ring for sale on Facebook Marketplace for $4500.
Another defendant is alleged to have feigned an interest in buying the ring. Instead, it is alleged, he arranged for the Betham brothers and others to raid the carpark meetup pretending to be a random robbery.
Twins Elijah and Malachai Betham have pleaded guilty to a violent robbery that took place at the carpark of a Woolworths supermarket in September 2025. Photo / Google
Upon arrival at the scene, Elijah Betham jumped out of the car alongside an unidentified man wielding a machete and rushed the 20-year-old seller, who was knocked to the ground.
“[The victim] was taken to the ground and assaulted by Elijah Betham and his associate,” states the summary of facts for both brothers. “[He] received multiple strikes with hands, feet from the machete.
“He was struck at least once to the head with the machete, causing a wound to the left side of his head and left ear.”
CCTV showed Elijah Betham, wearing a white hoodie, speaking with others at a West Auckland petrol station shortly before participating in a violent robbery outside a nearby supermarket. Photo / Supplied
The victim was later taken to hospital via ambulance. He suffered a “significant laceration” to the side of his head, causing “significant damage” to his ear.
Two 18-year-olds had accompanied the seller to the carpark and were waiting in the car when the machete attack began. They drove off, leaving the seller behind, after noticing Malachi Betham walking towards them with a shotgun, court documents state.
“As [the] car passed alongside Malachi Betham, Malachi Betham raised the shotgun and fired the shotgun once into the driver’s side window area of the complainants’ car,” court documents state. “The shot was fired within two metres of the complainants’ car.”
The shotgun pellets narrowly missed the driver, lodging instead in the front right pillar. No one inside the vehicle was injured.
Evidence photos show damage to an occupied car that Malachi Betham fired at with a shotgun from about two metres away. Photo / NZ Police
“Where’s your f***ing money?” the twins shouted as they met up where the machete attack victim was still on the ground.
They then drove away at speed, overtaking a bus.
Police caught up to Malachi Betham later that day, arresting him in the driveway of his Massey home. His brother was arrested the following day.
In a phone call from jail a week after their arrests, Elijah Betham was recorded admitting the brothers’ involvement as he tried to reassure an unidentified person on the other end of the line.
Police remain outside a Massey, West Auckland address following a violent robbery at a Woolworths in September 2025. Photo / Hayden Woodward
“Don’t beat yourself up, yo,” he said. “That’s Malachi’s own doing, the stoned c***.
“This is all our own doing, yo. F***, wouldn’t even be in this position if we didn’t do what we did.”
At the conclusion of the brief arraignment hearing this week in the High Court at Auckland, Justice David Johnstone ordered that Malachi Betham be taken into custody alongside his brother.
The pair will be sentenced together in June.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
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