Refugee Haji Alizada says he used Afghan martial arts to save him from alleged attempted murder

An Afghan refugee from the Hazara community has told a Supreme Court jury how he used martial arts skills to save his life from an alleged attempted murder.

Afghani asylum seeker Haji Alizada giving a talk to Tasmanian students in 2016. Picture: Sam Rosewarne

An Afghan refugee has told a Supreme Court jury how he used martial arts skills to save his life from an alleged attempted murder at Moonah.

Haji Alizada, 28, gave evidence in a trial on Wednesday after his former tenant, Sean Grant Gleeson, allegedly tried to murder him in a stabbing attack during November 2021.

Mr Alizada told the jury he was born in Afghanistan and at age 15, opened his own martial arts academy, coaching people aged seven to 40 in an Afghan sport similar to kickboxing.

As part of the Hazara ethnic minority, he said he was forced to leave in 2012 when he became at risk of persecution under the Taliban.

The married father-of-two said he thought he would have a good life and safety in Australia – moving to Tasmania in 2014, and gaining a scholarship to study at the University of Tasmania.

He said Mr Gleeson had “some strange habits” and regularly performed “a ritual” at the Fleet Street home that featured an animal skeleton, the ringing of a bell, and lighting fires in the backyard.

Supreme Court of Tasmania, Hobart. Picture: Chris Kidd

Mr Alizada said Mr Gleeson had “some very unusual stuff, some very strange stuff on his wall” that smelt “very bad”, and that he had pornographic videos, pictures and CDs “all around the room”.

He said Mr Gleeson once slipped a pornographic CD and picture under his door.

“Someone like myself, growing up in a religious family, it was very uncomfortable in a way,” he said.

“I didn’t say anything, I just chucked it in the bin.

“I thought maybe it’s okay, maybe it’s okay in Australia, it’s a gift or something.”

On the night of the alleged stabbing attack, Mr Alizada said he opened his bedroom door, with Mr Gleeson stabbing below his ribs.

“He pulled out the knife and I could see the blood splashing out of my body,” he said.

“He said ‘I know you’re going to kick me out of the house, but I’m going to kill you tonight’.”

Mr Alizada said he pleaded with Mr Gleeson, saying “Sean, I have a son, he’s going to be an orphan”.

“He said ‘stop playing that card’,” Mr Alizada told the court.

“Stop playing that card, I don’t care, I’m going to finish you tonight, you son of a bitch, bastard.

“He wanted to achieve what he wanted to achieve, he was on a mission, he was focused. I didn’t feel any mercy, anything.”

Haji Alizada speaking at a rally in 2015. Pic: supplied

Mr Alizada said he thought to himself that he needed to do something, “otherwise it’s all going to be over”.

He told the jury he grabbed Mr Gleeson’s waist and rotated his own body to put Mr Gleeson on the ground.

“For someone who has done training, it sort of came automatically,” he said.

“I grabbed his arm, but at the same time I was very scared because his knife was very close, it could have got my neck. But I thought I have to do something.

“I got into this side control and I managed to sit on his chest and grab his hands, around his wrists.

“Then I was sitting on his chest.”

He said Mr Gleeson was “so determined to harm me” that despite his wrists being restrained, he used the knife to cut the tops of Mr Alizada’s fingers.

Mr Alizada decided he would “lock his arm”.

“He was saying in a laughing way, ‘oh you know some techniques’.”

By the time emergency services arrived, Mr Alizada said he’d “lost a lot of blood” and that he prayed on the way to hospital in the ambulance.

The trial continues.

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