A murder-accused asked a detective if he was a bad person, after telling police he "freaked out" and stabbed his work mentor to death when he woke to find the man sexually assaulting him, a NSW court has heard.
Filipino man Jesus Bebita, 41, was found in pool of blood on the bathroom floor of his Scone flat in December 2018, with 49 stab wounds to his head, back and hands.
Jamie Cust, 23, of Muswellbrook, is standing trial for murder in the NSW Supreme Court at Newcastle after turning himself in to police and telling them Bebita had tried to rape him.
On Thursday Detective Senior Constable Daniel Robins told the court Cust intermittently cried as he told police what had happened.
The court has heard the pair were "good mates" and Bebita had been "something of a mentor" for Cust at the Scone abattoir where they worked.
Sen Const Robins said the then 21-year-old told detectives Bebita had trained him at work and "taught me everything I know".
The pair had arranged a night of drinking before Cust returned to Sydney to start a new job.
They visited a bottle shop in Aberdeen, and took selfies together, before Cust said he went to bed.
"When I woke up my pants were down, and he was rubbing his penis on me," Sen Const Robins said Cust had told him.
"We were in bed together, and he was touching my penis, and I freaked out."
Cust then asked police if there had been any reports of a house burning down in Scone.
"I stabbed Jesus several times, and to cover it up I lit the doona alight to burn the house down ... I should have got on a boat and left the country," Cust said, according to the officer.
When police visited Bebita's home, Sen Const Robins was the first to spot the man curled up in a semi-foetal position and covered in blood.
"Perhaps it didn't occur to you at the time, but considering (crime scene photographs) is there something unusual?" defence barrister Paul Rosser asked.
"The pants are on back to front," he replied.
He was not wearing underpants either, Mr Robins said.
The court on Thursday heard evidence Cust was seen by a sexual assault nurse, and a series of tests conducted, during which no genital injury was noted, no semen detected and no DNA found other than his own.
The nurse told the court showering, as Cust had done after the attack, impacts on the evidence such examinations can detect.
Another detective, Sergeant Todd Hobson, earlier recounted for the court a conversation he'd had with Cust the day after his arrest.
"Cust said to me, 'Do you think I'm a bad person for this?'"
"I said, 'You've murdered someone mate, it doesn't get any worse.'"
Then, while making stabbing motions, Cust said, "I just stabbed him, but it just took ages for him to die."
Justice Helen Wilson instructed the jury to ignore Mr Hobson's opinion of the crime - only they could decide if the crime amounted to murder.
Mr Rosser is arguing Cust should be found not guilty of murder, but guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.
The ultimate issue for the jury will be whether the Crown can prove beyond reasonable doubt that Cust was not acting under "extreme provocation", he said.
