A man was hit so hard with a baseball bat that it split before he was left to die next to a rubbish chute metres from his front door, a court heard.
Ian Tomlin, 46, died after the “extraordinarily vicious attack” outside his home in Cromwell House, Battersea, on October 17.
His neighbour Gary Beech and another man, Michael Swan, are alleged to have carried out the fatal attack, the murder trial at the Old Bailey heard.
Opening the case on Tuesday, prosecutor Alexandra Healy QC said there was "a history of tension" between Mr Tomlin and the two defendants in the run-up to the killing.
She said: "The Crown say Beech and Swan murdered Mr Tomlin. He was hit repeatedly on the head with a baseball bat. He was also stabbed a number of times in the neck."
CCTV from a building nearby appeared to show "a ruckus" on the first floor at around 5.30pm.
A group of young people could be seen gathering around the tower block before going inside.
Ms Healy said to jurors: "The Crown suggest what you are able to see is somebody who the Crown say is Swan continuing to move his arms around. It appears there are two other figures present - the Crown say those must be Mr Tomlin and Beech.
"A figure is holding a long straight object which we say is a baseball bat, he's showing it towards a very agitated Swan. It looks like Mr Tomlin holding a baseball bat and a bicycle chain, fending off, the Crown say, Swan and Beech.
"The Crown say they carried out an extraordinarily vicious attack on Mr Tomlin."
Ms Healy said CCTV then showed Beech "carrying a baseball bat that has been used to batter Mr Tomlin, so hard that the bat appears to have been split".
Swan is said to have fled the scene by car, while Beech left the housing block temporarily before re-entering and going into his flat - a journey which would have taken him past the dying Mr Tomlin on the floor, the court heard.
Beech, 48, of Cromwell House in Battersea denies murder. Swan, 46, of Enterprise Way in Wandsworth, denies murder and an additional charge of perverting the course of justice by allegedly removing the baseball bat from the scene.
The trial continues.
Additional reporting by Press Association
