A woman hid all the knives in her home before a Somalian community leader who came to check on her "unwell" nephew was allegedly murdered, a court has been told.
Luqman Abdishakur Ahmed, 30, has been accused of murdering Mohamed Farah with a kitchen knife at a North Melbourne apartment in January.
Court documents allege the victim and three other Somalian community leaders went to the apartment, which belonged to Abdishakur Ahmed's aunt and uncle, after reports he was having mental health issues.
The group had gathered to read passages of the Koran, in a healing process known as "ruqya", to the 30-year-old, who had been "talking to himself" and was "out of his mind", according to witnesses.
Abdishakur Ahmed's aunt on Wednesday told Melbourne Magistrates Court that she hid all the knives in her home before the visitors arrived.
The woman did not see the alleged stabbing.
But she heard screaming and later tried to apprehend her nephew, who also attacked his friend, Abdullahi Moallim, after he grabbed the knife Abdishakur Ahmed was holding by the blade.
"When the guy (Mr Moallim) held his knife hand I managed to hold his other hand as well," the woman said through a Somali interpreter.
Mr Moallim suffered significant lacerations to his left hand, the court was previously told, and required hand therapy.
"I saw him in the kitchen with a knife. He was holding it backwards - with the sharp edge backwards," Mr Moallim said.
"Everything was chaos."
Another member of the group which visited Abdishakur Ahmed at the North Melbourne apartment said mental health problems are stigmatised and not widely acknowledged in Somalian culture.
"People don't like to talk about it," he told the court on Tuesday.
The man also said Abdishakur Ahmed was "out of control" before the alleged murder.
Abdishakur Ahmed has also been charged with intentionally causing serious injury to Mr Moallim.
It is his first time in custody.
The committal hearing continues.
