Australian yoga instructor injured by masked intruder armed with a ‘big knife’ who broke into his home
An Australian yoga instructor feared he and his girlfriend could have been killed during a terrifying home invasion that left him seriously injured in Bali.
Joe, 39, suffered a broken hand, nerve damage and two cut tendons after struggling with a masked intruder armed with a knife.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Australian yoga instructor seriously injured in Bali.
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“I was sleeping in bed with my girlfriend and I (woke) up to an intruder in my house,” he told 7NEWS.
“So I try to tackle him and in that last moment I recognise he was holding a big knife, so (my) instinct was just to grab the blade.”
Joe said he managed to take the knife before throwing it under a bed and running to the living room.
He said the intruder then picked up a picture frame and smashed “it over my head”.
The masked man was captured on CCTV falling over as he fled the scene with a wallet, laptop, three phones, motorbike keys and Joe’s passport.
The Victorian man got help from a mini-mart shopkeeper before he was taken to the emergency department.
He was treated at a local hospital but flew to Perth for four critical surgeries on both his hands.
He was discharged on Sunday and is still recovering.
“We’re just thankful to be alive. You wouldn’t expect something like that to happen,” he said.
Joe said he reported the incident to police but has lost trust in the Indonesian authorities.
“I was hopeful that maybe the police were able to do a proper investigation but that’s not going anywhere,” he said.
Joe runs his own business as a yoga instructor and has spent the last seven years splitting his time between Bali and Australia.
He will not be able to return to the holiday hotspot for some time, with months of rehabilitation at Sir Charles Gairdner still on the cards.
The mental scars may take longer to heal, and he said he still struggles to turn the lights off at night.
A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to cover the cost of medical bills and emergency documents.
Originally published on 7NEWS
