A cannabis grower claims he was acting in self defence when he allegedly stabbed a man in the thigh and left him to bleed to death.
Thang Minh Ho, 55, is accused of confronting Cuong Van Le at a cannabis cultivation factory in Melbourne's north on the morning of April 28, 2021.
Mr Le was holding a pruning knife at the time and it's alleged Ho grabbed it off him and stabbed the 52-year-old in his upper thigh.
The blade went all the way through Mr Le's leg, slicing his femoral artery.
Ho left the scene and two other men drove Mr Le to hospital but he died from rapid blood loss.
Ho has pleaded not guilty to Mr Le's manslaughter and is on trial in the Victorian Supreme Court, arguing he was acting in self defence.
His barrister Michael Turner conceded to the jury Ho was aggrieved and planned to "smash up" the factory because he was not paid correctly after leaving the cannabis operation.
But Ho did not go to the factory armed with a weapon and instead he was confronted with Mr Le's knife, Mr Turner said.
"When Mr Ho said he was concerned for his safety, you might think there was a very good reason," the barrister said.
But crown prosecutor Jeremy McWilliams said Ho was the initial aggressor and that he told police it was normal for Mr Le to be holding a pruning knife.
"There's very little to say (Mr Le) was a threat to Mr Ho at all," the prosecutor said.
"He stabbed and killed Mr Le with no lawful excuse and he's guilty of manslaughter."
Ho has pleaded guilty to cultivating a commercial quantity of cannabis.
The manslaughter trial before Justice Stephen Kaye is expected to run for two weeks.
