Aussie's warning after waking to find knife-wielding stranger in his Bali bedroom

An Aussie man has suffered severe cuts to his hands after waking up in the middle of the night to find a stranger allegedly standing in his dark bedroom wielding a large knife.

Joe, who has been living and working between Australia and Bali for the past seven years, claims he was fast asleep next to his girlfriend in their Canggu villa when the violent attack occurred last month.

“We’ve been renting a place since the beginning of this year and it’s on a busy street in a busy tourist area. I just never expected anything like this to happen,” 39-year-old told Yahoo News Australia on Thursday.

Joe spent the night of October 16 packing for a week-long holiday to the Phillipines, booked to leave on a 7am flight the next morning, however his plans were soon dashed in terrifying circumstannces.

“Then at 2am I wake up to an intruder inside my bedroom with a big kitchen knife,” he said. “It was really scary. It was really dark. The only light was coming off the air conditioner.”

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Aussie tried to fight off alleged Bali intruder

To even his surprise, Joe told Yahoo he bolted out of bed and tried to fight the man off.

“He was trying to get me and I was trying to win the knife off him, and we kind of struggled and wrestled along the ground for what felt like an eternity,” he said, adding the man then began screaming “I’ve got friends” in Indonesian.

Eventually, the 39-year-old said he was able to twist the blade out of the man’s hand and throw it under the bed. “Then he got up and ran into the living room. I chased him and he picked up a big picture frame that we have and smashed it over me,” Joe said.

“I was in full adrenaline mode so I didn’t feel much. I just wanted this intruder out of the house and away from me and my partner.”

CCTV footage captures man fleeing villa after alleged attack

The alleged attacker then bolted for the door, Joe said, grabbing his black backpack that contained his personal and work phones, passport, a brand new Apple laptop, his wallet, clothing and glasses — all prepped and ready to go for his trip.

In CCTV footage captured outside the Aussie’s villa, people can be heard shouting moments before a barefoot man wearing a Covid face mask runs out of the open door with a black bag in his hand. Strangely, he briefly places the backpack on the ground as he fumbles with a set of keys that he leaves hanging from the handle.

The alleged intruder then darts over to a large gate and falls down as he tries to pull it shut before calmly strolling away. In the frantic following moments, Joe told Yahoo he and his girlfriend tried to call emergency services but no one answered so they walked to a local shop for help.

“My hands were all messed up,” he said, adding he wrapped them in tea towels and armed himself with a heavy pan before stepping into the dark alley.

Aussie warns tourists to be careful

The shop owners rushed Joe to the emergency hospital where he was told he would need “four different intricate surgeries”. The 39-year-old said he declined, opting to undergo the procedures in Australia instead, so physicians bandaged his bleeding wounds the best they could.

Unable to fly to Perth without his passport, Joe’s sister travelled to Bali to help him apply for emergency documents, organise doctors’ letters, police reports and travel documents.

After a long seven day wait, he was finally able to return home, where he was treated for two slashed tendons, broken bones and a cut nerve in his right thumb.

He’s since been discharged but now faces months of rehabilitation and hefty bills, prompting him to start a GoFundMe to help recoup the estimated $20,000 in medical bills, flights and stolen items.

Joe told Yahoo the police investigation into the incident appears to have stalled, but he remains hopeful and is “happy to be alive”. However, he said he won’t be returning to the popular holiday destination “for a long time”.

“I’ve warned all my friends that you know, there’s this beautiful place called Bali, and it’s still a soft place in my heart because the majority of people there have treated me well, but I really think the message in telling my story is it’s much more unsafe than you think,” he said.

“Please think about security when you go there. Make sure your doors are locked, your bedroom door, make sure the villa or hotel you’re at has CCTV or security.”

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