On his back in the middle of the road, accused murderer Kane Flanders claims an axe-wielding man had twice swung at him when he says he grabbed a metal scooter, jumped up and swung back.
"I thought I was going to die," Flanders, now 32, told a jury in Newcastle Supreme Court on Tuesday.
"He was aiming for my head with an axe".
Flanders has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ashley Morgan and claims he was acting in self-defence when he struck the 38-year-old with a scooter in the middle of Cambridge Avenue at Raymond Terrace.
Morgan died from blunt force head injuries about 3am on April 9, 2024, about an hour after he and his partner had arrived in the suburban street and began smashing windows and mailboxes and yelling abuse at residents.
Flanders told the jury he only struck Morgan once after jumping to his feet, grabbing the scooter and swinging all in one motion.
He said his intention was to scare Morgan off and he wasn't aiming for anything.
But he said the scooter connected with Morgan's head and he fell backwards onto the roadway, dropping the axe.
"I heard a thump," Flanders said.
"Like he got whiplashed to the ground."
Flanders said Morgan's partner tried to help him to his feet, but he collapsed again and Flanders walked away.
Flanders said moments earlier he had become involved in a physical confrontation with Morgan and his partner after the pair arrived in Cambridge Avenue and began smashing things and yelling abuse.
He said he told Morgan's partner to "f--- off" and then a man, who he thought was armed with a pole, ran towards him and swung.
Flanders said the swing missed, but he asked his brother to "go get a shovel or a pole or a machete".
"[I wanted to] try to scare him off, I knew there was no shovel or pole or machete out the front or in the house," Flanders said.
"I was hoping it would scare him off and he would piss off."
He said Morgan then yelled out to his mate up the road and Flanders became concerned they were both going to come and bash him.
"I followed them up the road to get them off the street," Flanders said.
"To keep them away from my house in case they did knock me out or kill me even."
What happened next evolved quickly.
Flanders claims Morgan's partner began hitting him in the face, his brother came over and handed him a scooter and then Morgan swung at him with an axe.
"She kept punching me," Flanders said.
"I went to turn to look at her, by the time I turned back Ash was screaming and running at me, swung the axe at me."
Morgan said a voice captured on CCTV from a house, saying "come on little boy", was Morgan and he was holding the axe above his head.
"By the time I turned back around and seen him swinging it, I ducked my head, it hit me in the back and I fell to the ground," Flanders said.
"I dropped the scooter at the same time.
"By the time I looked back up, he was swinging it again.
"I had to lift my leg up and cover my face and it hit me in the knee."
Flanders said he then jumped to his feet, grabbed the scooter and swung it towards Morgan, striking him in the head.
The prosecution case is that Flanders then struck Morgan in the head with the scooter while he was lying on the ground.
But under cross-examination from Crown prosecutor Brendan Queenan, Flanders maintained he only hit Morgan once.
Mr Queenan played the CCTV footage and suggested a number of loud thuds were the sound of Flanders striking Morgan with the scooter while he was lying on the ground unarmed.
And he suggested, at that point, Flanders' brother could be heard repeating: "Kane, that is enough".
"He did yell those things," Flanders said of his brother.
"But I did not hit him while he was on the ground.
"I only hit him once."
Mr Queenan said there was "simply no time" in the sequence shown on CCTV for Flanders' version to have occurred.
But Flanders attributed the thuds heard on CCTV to him getting up with the scooter, striking Morgan and then the axe hitting the ground.
He said nothing was happening and he was not striking Morgan at the time his brother was yelling at him to stop.
And Flanders denied saying "I'm going to f---ing kill you", saying he heard something else on the audio.
The trial continues.
