Killer Beez murder conspiracy: Man who planned to kill Tribesmen member granted home detention

• A former Killer Beez member was granted home detention after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit murder.
• Justice Graham Lang cited the defendant’s steps towards rehabilitation and leaving the gang for his children.
• The murder plot was thwarted by other gang members and monitored jail calls, despite ongoing gang tensions.

A former Killer Beez member who admitted he was prepared to serve as a rogue hitman for the group has been granted a sentence of home detention after a rough split with the gang which resulted in him being marked for retribution.

The 30-year-old, who continues to have interim name suppression, pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to commit murder, which carries a maximum possible sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment. He had plotted with another Killer Beez member to kill a rival Tribesmen member amid a fragile truce between the two gangs in June 2022.

The plot was thwarted when other Killer Beez members intervened, beating up the 30-year-old for threatening the peace talks.

Since then, he has left the gang – saying he wants to focus on being a better father for his two young children – and has been held in segregation at jail for his own safety.

During a recent hearing in the High Court at Auckland, Justice Graham Lang said he would not ordinarily allow home detention for someone with the defendant’s criminal history. But he had to give credence to the man’s recent steps at rehabilitation, he said.

The Killer Beez. Photo / Brett Phibbs

“I think this act of handing your patch in and leaving the gang is a huge step forward for you,” he explained. “So that’s why I’m willing to give you a break. It’s up to you what you do with it.”

Late last month, Lang ordered a temporary sentence of one year and seven months’ imprisonment. But he told the defendant he would alter the sentence to home detention if he was able to get a suitable address approved by probation. At a follow-up hearing today, the judge carried out his word, ordering a new sentence of five months and two weeks’ home detention.

‘He has to be smoked’

The Killer Beez and Tribesmen motorcycle gangs had been just days into a ceasefire following three weeks of perpetual gang warfare across Auckland when the murder plan was devised by a co-defendant to kill a Tribesmen member who went by the name “Sweet”. Despite the truce, the co-defendant – who was in prison at the time – remained bitter about his house having been previously shot at, court documents state.

“He has to be smoked, eh,” the 30-year-old was instructed hours before the shooting was to take place.

“Still gonna whack it out,” he replied in barely coded speech during a follow-up call a short time later. “Whack it out the park, brother.”

But the conspiracy to kill, which lasted about 29 hours, failed on two fronts. Fellow gang members intervened, but also the jail calls were monitored and recorded.

Justice Lang noted during the sentencing hearing that the defendant had an “appalling upbringing” that likely resulted in his introduction to gangs at a young age. He fell from a moving car at age 3, which might have resulted in a traumatic brain injury. The judge said he couldn’t be sure about the brain injury but it was clear he had cognitive issues.

He went into Oranga Tamariki care at a young age and spent a considerable amount of time in youth justice facilities.

The defendant had previously been sentenced as an adult to one-month imprisonment in 2014 for assault with intent to injure and four years and eight months’ imprisonment in 2016 for aggravated robbery, but his lawyer described the offending as “integrally linked to his gang membership” that he has now severed.

He was also found to have breached bail earlier this year when he cut off his electronically monitored ankle bracelet and disappeared for about three weeks.

The bail breach was an especially bad look when applying for home detention, the judge said. But he noted that a sentence involving continued imprisonment would be extra difficult because of his decision to leave the gang, the judge said.

“It would not be in the best interests for you or the community to remain in segregation in prison,” he added.

War and peace

The murder plan had been conceived at a time when there were so many drive-by shootings in Auckland that gang warfare became a nationwide political issue, resulting in the sacking of a Government minister.

The two gangs had been longtime rivals but had co-existed in relative peace for several years when tensions started to heat up in March 2022 after Killer Beez members were believed to have shot at an address where Tribesmen were celebrating after a patching ceremony.

Tensions increased the following month, after Killer Beez members were mocked by the other gang online following an Auckland motorway crash involving several motorbikes that was caught on film.

Then all hell seemed to break loose on May 24, when shootings were reported in Papatoetoe, Ōtara, Flat Bush, Papakura, Te Atatū, Mt Albert and Henderson during a single night of chaos. Between May 2 and June 10, police believe 21 shootings and nine arsons were attributable to the conflict.

The violence didn’t die down until peace talks between senior leaders of the two gangs, sources told the Herald at the time.

But it appears not everyone got the message.

Among the homes that had been shot at on May 24 was one on Rathgar Rd in Henderson where “Sweet” was known to live, according to court documents released to NZME. A group of Killer Beez members is alleged to have been behind it.

The following evening, the home where a Killer Beez member who lived in Massey was shot at. Although police never identified who was responsible for that shooting, several Killer Beez members had decided that “Sweet” was to blame and decided to escalate the retaliation rather than abide by the ceasefire, authorities allege.

Roughly three weeks later, on June 19, the 30-year-old was recorded telling his co-defendant he would “do that thing tonight”.

The other man then “instructed [the defendant] to keep that ‘movie’ (a reference to a shooting) unknown and not to let others know”, court documents state.

“I’ll get that whacked out done tonight,” the defendant reassured him.

“Don’t spray it,” the other man clarified. “He has to be smoked.”

The other man is alleged to have dropped all coded language - making the intentions even clearer - a short time later as he discussed plans via the same prison phoneline with his girlfriend, who tried in vain to talk him out of it.

“It’s not even spraying ... You pull up for the kill,” he is alleged to have told her.

“... I’m gonna f***ing kill that c***, no one ain’t gonna f***ing know,” he is alleged to have continued, responding “I don’t care” when it was pointed out by his partner that prison calls are recorded.

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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