Levi John Stephen Elliott, 31, was celebrating his birthday in Brisbane on August 24, 2018, when he allegedly stabbed Adam John Woodward, 35, in the neck.
The pair faced off outside the Brothers St Brendan’s Leagues Club, where they were regulars at the bar, witness Nicholas Owen, 24, told Brisbane Magistrates Court on Thursday.
“They’d had problems with each other,” he said.
The court heard Mr Owen told Mr Woodward to “walk away” from the brewing fight but he’d said, “I’m not the bigger man”.
“(Adam) was kind of spaced-out, he wasn’t focusing on me,” Mr Owen said.
Mr Owen agreed with defence lawyer Martin Longhurst that Elliott had been brandishing a Canadian Club bottle as the altercation heated up.
But he said he’d thrown it away before the two men began physically fighting.
Mr Owen then detailed how Mr Woodward held Elliott to the ground with one hand and punched him in the face with the other.
“They were very hard hits from what I could see,” he said.
Mr Owen agreed Elliott then launched his left arm around “in a roundhouse kind of way, striking (Mr Woodward) to the neck”.
“That was while he was on the ground getting king hit,” he said.
“(But) I did not see a knife.”
The court heard Mr Woodward then stood up whereupon Mr Owen noticed he was bleeding.
He died at the scene.
Elliott will stand trial in the Brisbane Supreme Court on one count of murder, with a date to be determined.