International student dies in hospital after Darwin home invasion

An international student from Bangladesh died after being subject to a brutal home invasion in the NT in the early hours of Wednesday.

The scene outside a home in Millner where an international student was left to die after a home invasion. Picture: Bethany Griffiths

An international student from Bangladesh died after being subject to a brutal home invasion in the Northern Territory in the early hours of Wednesday.

A man arrested over the attack is believed to have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of his arrest.

Charles Darwin University student Md Ishaqur Rahman Sifat, who arrived in Australia earlier this year, passed away at Royal Darwin Hospital on Thursday as a result of injuries sustained after he was allegedly assaulted by an “unknown man” who entered his Darwin sharehouse.

The alleged offender - who has not been charged - was not on bail at the time of the alleged offending but is known to police, sources told The Australian.

Two relatives of Mr Rahman arrived in Darwin from Sydney early on Thursday morning.

His parents are understood to be currently making arrangements to travel from Bangladesh to Australia.

A 29-year-old man was taken into custody after police who were en route to the scene spotted a “suspicious” man inside a car, in which they found allegedly stolen property from the residence, Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Paul Morrissey from the Major Crime Unit said on Thursday afternoon.

“Shortly before that time, one of the residents woke to the sound of someone in the yard, he woke some of the other residents and as a group they went out and found a male in the yard and chased the trespasser away after a ... exchange,” Mr Morrissey said.

“The residents then checked on each other and they checked on one of the bedrooms and found one of their fellow residents, a 23-year-old male, on his bed with apparent head trauma.”

Police were notified of the incident at around 4:25am as his housemates drove him to hospital.

“(The man arrested) is resided in Darwin, he’s spent some time remote, he’s not a displaced person at this time,” Mr Morrissey told The Australian.

“This probably has as much of a chance of happening in Palmerston or Millner or any of the Darwin greater area as it would in any larger city or metropolitan space.”

Mr Rahman had just commenced his first semester of a Masters of Electrical Engineering and arrived in Darwin in mid-February.

A surgeon at the Royal Darwin Hospital told the NT News the alleged intruder fled the home with a fire extinguisher, and that the student was found by his flatmates in bed in a pool of his own blood.

A friend of Mr Rahman told The Australian the student was “very excited” to be in Darwin but had been pressured to live in Sydney with family.

“His parents, his uncles, and everyone mentioned not to go to Darwin, maybe come to Sydney, because they live in Sydney, they can take care of him properly.

“He suggested coming to Darwin, because of Charles Darwin University, because of the place ... but he like really argued with his family to come to Darwin, and see what Darwin has given him today,” the friend said.

The friend said Mr Rahman was a “very happy guy” and a keen cricketer.

“He was like brother can we play sports because I’m not like familiar with a lot of people up here,”

“He was a good student as well, he was a meritorious student ... he was so happy to do his assignments and everything.

“His is uncle was sharing last night that he called him on Sunday and said that ‘hey Uncle I received very good marks in my assignment’, he was so excited and so happy.”

The friend, who also had a mutual friend with bottle shop worker Declan Laverty, who was allegedly murdered earlier this year, questioned how many more of his friends would be subject to violence.

“Its really hard for us, we’re speechless,” he said.

“He always puts a smile on and to be honest, he was a good looking guy, and whatever happened to him is not acceptable.”