A WOMAN has told a jury she witnessed Kane Flanders strike her partner with a scooter before the accused murderer used the scooter to repeatedly stomp on his head while he lay in the middle of a suburban street at Raymond Terrace.
The woman, who was with Ashley Morgan on the night he died in Cambridge Avenue in 2024, was overcome with emotion as she gave evidence on Tuesday in Newcastle Supreme Court.
Flanders has pleaded not guilty to murder and has raised self-defence.
He told a number of police officers at the scene that he had struck Morgan because the 38-year-old "was literally attacking me with an axe".
Morgan's partner gave evidence that he had called her on the night of April 8, 2024, and complained that someone had drugged and robbed him.
The pair met up and walked down Cambridge Avenue, where CCTV captured the woman smashing a window and screaming and Morgan smashing up mailboxes.
Crown prosecutor Brendan Queenan told the jury on Monday that Morgan was armed with an axe, but the woman gave evidence that it was dark and she did not see what he used.
The woman identified Flanders and another man on CCTV and said they came outside and Flanders told her to calm down.
She claimed Flanders then began calling her names, including a "junkie slut", and Morgan ran down towards them.
Morgan's partner claimed this triggered a fight, with her and Morgan "punching on" with Flanders and the other man.
"He told [the other man] to go get a machete," the woman said.
"Then [the other man] came back with a scooter."
The woman claimed the other man first struck Morgan with the scooter, knocking him to the ground.
She said as Morgan was getting up, Flanders took the scooter off the other man and used it to strike Morgan in the head, knocking him to the ground again.
She then described Flanders using the scooter to stomp on Morgan's head three times while he was on the ground.
The woman said Flanders and the other man ran off, while she crawled over to Morgan and told him "not to die".
She called triple-zero and paramedics arrived, but Morgan died from blunt force head injuries in the middle of Cambridge Avenue about 3am on April 9, 2024.
Mr Queenan said during his opening address that one of the issues in the trial would be whether Flanders was acting in self-defence, and the jury heard the accused killer made a number of claims to police on the night about Morgan "attacking him with an axe".
"They have all just started yelling, screaming, smashing windows," Flanders said.
"I came out and said 'keep it down'.
"The chick came down and started to abuse me, started swinging at me.
"Then I had the bloke come down and he started to attack me with an axe.
"[The other man] went and grabbed something and handed it to me and I just swung."
When asked to clarify, Flanders said: "I hit him, he is literally attacking me with an axe."
When asked how Morgan was injured, Flanders replied: "I hit him... with a scooter".
"He is attacking me with an axe," Flanders said.
"He clobbered me with an axe."
Flanders was arrested and later charged with murder.
The woman is expected to continue giving her evidence on Wednesday.
