Primary school educator Jake Elias speaks out after being violently attacked with an axe in the CBD

A primary school educator has been telling children he was scratched by a koala after he was left with a permanent facial scar during a horrific axe attack in the CBD.

An Adelaide educator forever scarred in a brutal axe attack has an interesting explanation when kids at primary school ask him where it came from.

To the kids that Jake Elias educates, the scar comes from a koala scratch. In reality, he was the victim of a sickening attack in November 2020 during a night out in the CBD.

Armed with the axe for a “sense of bravado”, Ali Sharifi acknowledged Mr Elias was completely undeserving of yet another alcohol-fuelled act of violence.

But despite Sharifi’s admission the horrific crime was “utterly unjustified”, Mr Elias and his family watched in shock when he walked free from court last month.

Jake Elias was left with a permanent facial scar after he was attacked by a drunken stranger in the CBD with an axe. Picture: Tom Huntley

Jake Elias was left disappointed after his attacker Ali Sharifi was sentenced to home detention. Picture: Tom Huntley

The terrifying attack

Mr Elias was showing his freshly 18-year-old brother the best of Adelaide night-life on November 7, 2020 when he ran into Sharifi outside the Black Bull hotel.

An erratic and alcohol-fuelled Sharifi followed Mr Elias, who was 19 at the time, and his group down to the Backpackers hostel on King William Street.

Mr Elias said Sharifi’s group had grown in size and began circling him and his friends.

“He (Sharifi) started punching members of my group, we were just standing there in shock saying what is going on?” Mr Elias said.

Mr Elias then confronted Sharifi and asked what he was doing as no one in his group was retaliating.

“That’s when he approached me and said what are you going to do about it?” he said.

Before Mr Elias knew it, Sharifi threw a punch at him and he felt a “massive blow” to the face.

Ali Sharifi was sentenced to home detention after the axe attack. Photo: Courts SA

Jake Elias was left with a permanent facial scar after the attack. Photo: Courts SA

During the vicious nine-second attack Sharifi struck Mr Elias a number of times with the small axe he had been hiding in his clothing, cutting his face with the first strike.

However, Mr Elias said he had no idea Sharifi used a weapon during the attack until his brother looked over at him.

“He said bro, you’ve got a massive slash across your face and that’s when it all hit me,” he said.

“I felt the blood that was dripping down from my face but I originally thought it was a broken nose.”

Mr Elias said he started getting light-headed before looking down at his finger and realising it had also been sliced open by the axe.

“And I’m thinking oh my goodness this is a night out gone horribly, horribly wrong – I felt like I was in a battlefield almost, a wounded soldier,” he said.

Jake Elias' stitches after being attacked with an axe in the CBD. Photo: Supplied

Jake Elias’ finger was also sliced open by the axe. Photo: Supplied

Sharifi fled but was arrested 500m away from the scene of the attack, returning a blood alcohol reading of 0.115 per cent.

Mr Elias was taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital where he was treated for his injuries and stayed overnight before a plastic surgeon was able to stitch up his facial injury.

The cut to Mr Elias’ face was an 8cm long horizontal wound to his left cheek extending to his nose.

How the crime affected Mr Elias

Mr Elias said after the attack he stopped his university studies and took time away from work as a primary school educator as he didn’t want the kids to see his massive scar.

“It was absolutely terrible for the first three months with the stitches in there … I was looking like Hannibal Lecter almost,” he said.

After eventually returning to work Mr Elias told the kids his scar was a koala scratch as he didn’t want them to worry about the dangers of the world.

Jake Elias rarely goes into the city anymore. Picture: Tom Huntley

Mr Elias said he still gets anxious when he can’t see someone that’s walking towards him and his mum remains terrified whenever he and his brother go out.

“It was an attack that you would think wouldn’t happen very often but now that it has happened it’s in the back of her mind every time we go out she’s thinking are they going to go home OK?” he said.

Mr Elias, now 23, sticks to pubs for nights out and rarely goes into the city as going back to the scene of the attack brings back traumatic memories.

Sharifi’s sentence

Sharifi, who pleaded guilty to recklessly causing serious harm, claimed during court that he formed the belief that someone in Mr Elias’ group had racially abused members of his group.

However, Mr Elias completely disputed this.

Sharifi who was sentenced to two years and seven months jail, with a non-parole period of six months was allowed to walk free from court after he was ordered to serve the sentence on home detention.

Judge Carmen Matteo determined Sharifi was a good candidate due to spending close to a year in custody and his promising rehabilitation efforts.

However, Mr Elias said he and his family were left extremely disappointed by the sentence.

“To say that you can go out into town with a weapon, get drunk and then do something like that and literally almost kill me and then only be given a year in jail for it,” he said.

“It’s a slap in the face.”