A murder-accused who stabbed a man with a butterfly knife says he bought the illegal weapon to do tricks and didn't intend to kill or harm anyone.
"I just wanted to get away," Levi John Stephen Elliott said in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Elliott has pleaded not guilty to murdering 35-year-old Adam John Woodward, claiming he feared for his life and acted in self-defence.
Mr Woodward suffered 17 wounds including the fatal laceration to his neck that transected his jugular vein causing massive haemorrhaging before collapsing his left lung.
The now-33-year-old Elliott was celebrating his birthday at the Brothers St Brendan's Leagues Club on August 24, 2018 when he and Mr Woodward began arguing.
Elliott told the court he was "being a smart-arse" hoping Mr Woodward would leave the club, but it was the murder-accused who eventually walked out first.
He was just outside when he felt surrounded and then heard loud footsteps coming quickly up behind him.
Elliott told the court he turned around, got hit, put his arms up to defend himself and found himself pinned on the ground.
"I feel like instinct took over," he added.
"I was scared as. I felt blood. I felt warmth on my face; couldn't see properly. I was getting these flashes in my head."
Elliott said he cut his fingers as he grabbed the butterfly knife from his pocket, and used it "defensively ... not striking in any precise way".
He told the court it felt like when he was a kid and drowning while being pummelled by waves in the ocean
"I remember I just couldn't breathe and I was trying to get to the top ... that was what it was like ... It was full on," he added.
"I was in fear. I was trapped. I couldn't do anything. I just defended myself."
Elliott said Mr Woodward walked away and it was only later - after police found the accused man covered in blood in a yard - he heard the other man had died.
He didn't intend to kill or harm Mr Woodward, but just wanted to get away, he told the court.
Elliott ordered the special butterfly flick knife - which was delivered 11 days before the deadly fight - from online retailer Wish.
He told the court he knew the sharp knife was illegal to have, but used it for tricks, throwing it in the air and twisting it in his fingers.
The prosecution argues there was a simmering animosity between the two men with Elliott claiming Mr Woodward treated his sister badly after a "one-off sexual encounter".
Mr Woodward also had history with Elliott's mother, damaging her car by kicking a panel in the club car park.
The trial which started eight days ago continues before Justice Glenn Martin.
