Ak Mohammad Hanif Bin Pg Abd Wahab: Armed ‘ninja’ accused of home invasion attack on grandparents on trial

A 37-year-old man who was wearing a ninja outfit and heavily armed when he allegedly attacked his neighbours was high on magic mushrooms, a court has been told. Ak Mohammad Hanif Bin Pg Abd Wahab has gone on trial in the District Court of WA, charged with going armed so as to cause terror and aggravated assault over the 2024 New Year’s Eve incident. Prosecutor Jennifer Negus said Teresa Urbaniak was throwing a ball for her dogs in a Yangebup park around 10.40pm when the accused — who lived just a few doors down — “ran out of the shadows” and assaulted her. He was dressed entirely in black, including a balaclava, carrying knuckle dusters and a throwing star, and had two sai — a type of Japanese melee weapon — strapped to his wrists. When she ran back to her Sandpiper Loop house seeking help from her husband Piotr Urbaniak, Mr Pg Abd Wahab followed and a violent struggle between the men ensued, Ms Negus said. Mr Pg Abd Wahab was restrained in a citizen’s arrest and said words to the effect of “shoot me in the head” when police arrived, the prosecutor said. She said he then pulled a Taser from an officer’s holster and spat numerous times but was charged with only one count of assault public officer. Ms Negus described his conduct as an “intentional experience of stylised violence”. But defence counsel Tom Percy said there was another side to the story. “This is a somewhat unusual case verging on the bizarre,” Mr Percy said. Mr Pg Abd Wahab had “a bad reaction” after smoking cannabis and taking “probably too much” magic mushrooms, seemingly becoming paranoid. He was interested in ninja culture and sometimes dressed like one, to his partner’s alarm. “Nothing sinister about it,” Mr Percy said. “He wasn’t looking for trouble. He meant no harm to anyone.” The lawyer said his client did not know the couple, who were aged in their 60s, and believed he was being attacked when their German Shepherds ran over unleashed. His balaclava fell over his eyes as he tried to fend off the dogs and an “entirely unintended scuffle” followed, Mr Percy said. Mr Pg Abd Wahab followed Ms Urbaniak but wasn’t trying to get into her home, the lawyer said, and was instead “confused and at a loss as to what happened in the park”. Mr Percy said security camera footage would show his client being “forcefully pulled into the house and very violently dealt with”. The accused also did not deliberately spit at police but was trying to clear his airways of blood and saliva, having been injured in the violence. “It was an entirely reflexive and involuntary act,” Mr Percy said, adding that the weapons could not have caused fear as they were not visible under his clothes. “It was a very unfortunate turn of events, the whole night. “You may well think that he’s the author of his own misfortune. “He accepts he was dressed in a manner that in hindsight, might have looked menacing.” The trial continues.