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
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
An Auckland labourer has admitted participating in a violent supermarket carpark robbery last year that included machete blows to one victim’s head and a shotgun blast aimed at another.
Elijah Ernest Frank Betham, 25, entered a guilty plea to assault with intent to rob today as he entered thedock in the High Court at Auckland.
The case had been transferred from Waitākere District Court after a co-defendant, who is still awaiting trial next year, was charged with attempted murder.
Both charges carry maximum possible penalties of 14 years’ imprisonment.
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 man is alleged to have feigned an interest in buying the ring. Instead, it is alleged, he arranged for Betham and others to raid the carpark meetup pretending to be a random robbery.
Elijah Betham has pleaded guilty to a violent robbery that took place at the carpark of a Woolworths supermarket in September 2025. Photo / Google
Upon arrival, 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,” state the summary of facts that only Betham has agreed to. “[He] received multiple strikes with hands, feet and 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.”
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 another defendant with a shotgun, court documents state.
That person is alleged to have fired at the vehicle from about two metres away.
The shotgun pellets narrowly missed the driver, police allege, but no one inside the vehicle was injured.
Police remain at a Massey home following the arrest of Elijah Betham. Photo / Hayden Woodward
Betham was arrested the next day at a home in Massey.
The defendant declined to speak with police about the incident. But he did shed some light on the matter 10 days later when he called an associate from a prison phone.
“This is all our own doing, yo,” he was recorded saying. “F***, we wouldn’t even be in this position if we didn’t do what we did.”
During today’s brief arraignment hearing, Justice Mathew Downs set a sentencing date for June. He declined a request by Betham’s lawyer for him to remain in electronically monitored bail until then.
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.
