Matt Utai shooting: Alleged getaway driver bailed, associate of league star’s fugitive son gunned down in Vietnam

Former Kiwis and NRL Premiership winner Matt Utai was left fighting for his life after being involved in a shooting in Sydney’s south-west in February. Photo / NZ Herald composite

Police believe he is in hiding in Asia, with previous inquiries including a potential base in Thailand.

As the search for Iziah Utai continues, the 19-year-old alleged to have been the getaway driver in the incident involving his father has been granted bail.

Khaldoun Khazma appeared in the NSW Supreme Court via AVL last week charged with being an accessory after the fact to attempted murder, participating in a criminal group, and drug possession after cannabis was allegedly later found by officers in his car.

His lawyer, Andris Gauja, told the bail application that the teen had “very little knowledge of the enterprise he appears to be involved in”.

He also told the court that there was “no evidence he was involved in the organisation [of the shooting]”.

A NSW police social media post confirming shortly after Matt Utai’s shooting that a special gang taskforce was investigating the near-homicide. Photo / NSW Police

NSW police had requested that bail be refused, claiming his alleged involvement with an organised crime network meant freeing him was a risk to public safety.

But Justice James Emmett did grant Khazma bail, before outlining some difficulties the prosecution could have on proving the charges related to the Matt Utai incident.

“The Crown must prove knowledge [of the shooting] at the time assistance was provided,” Justice Emmett said.

“I cannot conclude the case is a strong one.”

Khazma – who is due to return to court on June 18 – is among a handful of people who have been charged after the drive-by shooting.

That group includes a 25-year-old who is the alleged gunman.

Police have previously stressed there was no suggestion of any illegal activity by Matt Utai.

‘Bounties on their head’: Coconut Cartel leader shot dead – Iziah Utai continues to evade arrest

Almost four months on from Matt Utai’s near-deadly shooting, his son continues to evade police.

An arrest warrant is out for Iziah Utai in relation to the May 25, 2025, murder of Zakaria who was fatally shot while he was waiting at a set of traffic lights in Sydney.

Earlier that month, a Sydney barbershop registered to Iziah Utai was firebombed and destroyed over successive nights.

Iziah Utai reportedly left Australia five days after Zakaria was shot.

Iziah Utai, the son of ex-Kiwis player Matt Utai who was critically injured in a drive-by shooting, has reported links to Sydney’s underworld and convictions for firearms, drugs and armed robbery.

Following his dad’s shooting, property linked to him – including one alleged to be the Sydney house he lived in – was targeted in arson and drive-by shooting incidents.

Video of one of those incidents featured a male voice saying: “F*** him and the Coconut Cartel. This is the start of the destruction.”

A message later circulated on social media stating: “To the rat Ziggy Utai and his joke of a cartel, this is just the start of a losing battle for you and anyone that dares to come up against us. Stay tuned from the one and only crime family, forever strong.”

NSW police have previously stated that they believed he was overseas, with Thailand one of the locations that he was believed to have spent time in.

Late last month, in nearby Vietnam, the leader of the Coconut Cartel was shot dead and another associate was critically injured as they ate at a local restaurant.

Footage has emerged online of another friend cradling the body of Lorenzo Lemalu after being shot multiple times in Ho Chi Minh City.

Senior Coconut Cartel gang member Lorenzo Lemalu – seen here in a restaurant in Dubai – was shot in a suspected gang-ordered hit in Vietnam.

Two men have since been arrested in relation to the shooting, with Vietnam’s Ministry for Public Security saying they were detained near the Vietnam-Cambodia border.

It is alleged the duo arrested had arrived in Vietnam under false passports.

The ministry also claims the duo “were highly professional, extremely violent, armed with military weapons, and ready to resist arrest upon detection”.

Vietnamese authorities also claim Lemalu was killed “under the direction of an individual abroad”.

The gang that he helped lead features numerous former younger members of the Alameddine crime network.

Following the killing in Vietnam, Daily Telegraph crime editor Mark Morri last week wrote a column titled: “No safe havens: Sydney gangsters overseas on notice after Lemalu shooting”.

Potential hideout spots in Thailand are among places Australian police are probing as they look to find Iziah Utai, the wanted son of shot ex-Kiwis star Matt Utai. Photo / NZ Herald composite

In it he wrote about the gangland feud and of how “for the past 12 months a self-proclaimed crime syndicate called the Coconut Cartel has been targeting Alameddine crime network businesses, family homes and associates with drive-by shootings and fire bombings, releasing videos and posts on social media boasting they were coming for them”.

A number of members of different gangs had fled Australia for their safety, but Morri wrote: “It was only a matter of time before one of the myriad of Sydney’s gangsters hiding overseas would die in a hail of bullets”.

“There was a time where Aussie fugitives felt untouchable from the long arm of the law or an assassin’s bullet if they were overseas, but the world is shrinking and so are the hiding places,” he wrote.

“There are at least five Sydney crims currently overseas who have bounties on their head back in Sydney who may now be feeling a little nervous.”

Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 34 years of newsroom experience.

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