A love-sick man accused of murdering four men during a rampage across Darwin allegedly told a workmate he was going to shoot a man involved with his estranged lover.
Benjamin Glenn Hoffmann has pleaded not guilty to four counts of murder and 10 other serious charges during a drug-fuelled shooting spree on June 4, 2019.
A fellow tradie has told the 47-year-old's trial that in the weeks before the shooting spree, Hoffman repeatedly said he was going to kill a man named Alex Deligiannis.
"He said he was going to get Alex, shoot him, blow his head off, bash him with a baseball bat," Steven Barlee told the Northern Territory Supreme Court on Friday.
"Many times."
Prosecutor Lloyd Babb SC has previously said Hoffmann was searching for Ms Collins and Mr Deligiannis when he murdered the four men.
Mr Barlee said Hoffmann also "made noises with his mouth like the sound of a gun and made a hand gesture (like he was holding and firing a gun)".
He said Hoffmann, who was a labourer at a Darwin roofing firm, believed Mr Deligiannis was "sleeping with his girlfriend or pimping his girlfriend out".
Mr Barlee said Hoffmann also told him and other workers that he had a gun in the days before the shootings.
"We didn't believe him. (He was) behaving erratically," he said.
"It was a little bit surreal, we didn't expect him to do it."
Foreman Anthony Clark told the court Hoffmann "came across as very dodgy and very sketchy" the day before the shootings.
"It was just his general demeanour, it wasn't quite right," he said.
"He was very paranoid."
The court has also heard Hoffmann believed would-be intruders were prowling about the industrial property where he hired a room and that his safety was in danger in the weeks before the shootings.
Witnesses told the court, Hoffmann called police to report noises on the six-metre high roof but it was most likely just the metal structure creaking as it expanded and contracted in the tropical heat.
The third man to be shot dead on June 4, Michael Sisois, 57, also worked at the firm with Hoffmann.
The pair were described by witnesses as "best mates" but Hoffmann has previously said he believed Mr Sisois tried to poison him two days before the shootings.
The Crown says he died instantly when Hoffmann shot him in the head with a shotgun in the car park at The Buff Club.
A day earlier, Hoffmann allegedly sent Mr Sisois a text demanding that he bring a woman to him.
"I will f***ing wreck you, Sisois. Bring her to me. I'll f*** you up," the message read.
Earlier, the court heard Hoffmann told police he had been trying to help the woman he believed was his girlfriend, Kelly Collins, beat drug addiction before the killings.
He described Ms Collins as an "ex-working girl" who suffered a "rapid decline" after she was preyed upon by drug dealers who manipulated her back into prostitution in recent months.
The owner of the roofing company, Agapitos Agapitos, told the court on Friday he warned Hoffmann off Ms Collins "because she was a junkie".
"He told me that Kelly was getting used ... (and) that sometimes they raped her ... and that Alex was pimping her," he said.
Mr Agapitos said Hoffmann became upset when he discussed the matter.
"He said he wanted to get a baseball bat and smash (Alex's) head in," he said.
"I didn't want him near her. I told him 'you're just going to end up in jail' ... It's Alex's girlfriend anyway, from what I understand'."
Hoffmann allegedly also shot dead Hassan Baydoun, 33, at the Palms Motel and Nigel Hellings, 75, at an apartment complex.
Rob Courtney, 52, was stabbed more than 30 times and shot dead at Darwin Recycling.
The trial continues.
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