A man accused of murdering another man in his Murray Bridge home two years ago has told an Adelaide court he only helped dump his body because he was told he would also be killed.
Ned Timothy Hutchinson and Terrence Bradley Wilson are on trial in the Supreme Court charged with murdering Oliver Todd, 47, in his Murray Bridge home in December 2019.
David James Russell has already pleaded guilty to the murder.
The court has heard Mr Todd died after being hit on the head 11 times with a blunt object before being covered in a hessian sack secured with ratchet straps and a belt around his head.
Mr Hutchinson has taken the stand in the trial, telling the Supreme Court he helped in the aftermath of the murder because he was "in shock".
He told the court he had gone to Mr Todd's house in the early hours of the morning on December 11 with Russell to unload "junk" from his ute.
Mr Hutchinson said he saw Russell and Mr Todd fighting when he later entered the house.
"I then grabbed Dave off of Ollie, sort of dragged him off. I said, 'What are you doing?' He just sort of, he stood up and he then took off behind me," he told the court.
"Dave came running back in, he sort of grabbed me, threw me out the way … and then Dave, he struck Ollie with a – what appeared to be a small axe.
"He took a big swing … Ollie yelled out, like, 'No, Dave'. Before he could finish the word 'Dave', Dave had hit him, I believe in the top of the head."
Mr Hutchinson told the court he saw Russell hit Mr Todd "seven times at least" before telling him he had to help.
"I said to him, 'What do you mean I'm going to help you?'," Mr Hutchinson told the court.
"[Dave] said, 'You are going to help me or you are going to be next.'
"I just said, 'OK, I'll do whatever you want me to do.'
"I was just in shock. I felt sick."
The court heard Mr Hutchinson never checked on Mr Todd but assumed he was dead because there was "a lot of blood in the hallway".
He said still to this day he did not know why Russell and Mr Todd were fighting.
Mr Hutchinson told the court he and Russell then carried Mr Todd's body, which was wrapped in "a blanket", into the tray of the ute before cardboard and a child's bike were placed on top.
The court heard that, together, they then drove to a quarry at Jervois where they dumped Mr Todd's body before driving to Mr Hutchinson's home, showering and changing their clothes.
Mr Hutchinson said he later deleted his phone's call history because he "thought it would make the phone run faster".
Accused refuelled ute then drove to house
But prosecutor Kos Lesses asked Mr Hutchinson if he was lying about his reason for going to Mr Todd's house.
"So somewhere in the wee hours of the morning your evidence is you became involved with a clean-up exercise and the movement or collection of some items of property of Dave Russell?" Mr Lesses asked Mr Hutchinson.
"Yes," Mr Hutchinson replied.
The court also heard Mr Hutchinson had put $8 worth of diesel into his ute before driving 300 metres to Mr Todd's house that morning.
"You knew that $8 worth of diesel would take you out as far as Woods Point and Jervois and back," Mr Lesses put to Mr Hutchinson.
"I wouldn't normally drive that far with $8 worth of diesel when the petrol light was already on," Mr Hutchinson replied.
"And the reason you got that much worth of diesel that morning is because you knew you were going out there to dispose of a body," Mr Lesses said.
"It's not the truth," Mr Hutchinson replied.
The trial has previously heard Mr Todd was taking drugs with his housemate at their Murray Bridge address on the night of the murder, before Mr Wilson came over to accuse Mr Todd of wanting his girlfriend.
The court has also previously heard the men then waited for his housemate to leave before Mr Wilson, Mr Hutchinson and Russell carried out a "nasty and deliberate attack".
Mr Lesses has previously told the court Mr Wilson confessed to Mr Todd's murder in an audio recording captured while he was on home detention bail a few months after his arrest.
But Mr Wilson's lawyer, Craig Caldicott, has told the court the audio was not clear.
The trial before Justice Kevin Nicholson continues.
