Armed intruders pointed a gun at a man and cut him with a machete during a "quite horrible" home invasion in Canberra's south, a jury has been told.
Jackson Cory Allred and James Gregory Elliott, the men accused of being the assailants, went on trial in the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday, having each pleaded not guilty to three charges.
The pair both deny aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and property damage.
In her opening address to a jury of 13, prosecutor Beth Morrisroe said the charges stemmed from an incident that had occurred in Chisholm in July 2020.
Ms Morrisroe told jurors CCTV footage from the night in question showed three men approaching a unit where the primary victim lived with his mother.
Two of them - one armed with a gun and the other wielding a machete - eventually forced their way into a garage, or shed, connected to the unit.
The prosecutor said when the male victim entered the garage after hearing a noise, he was confronted by the man with the gun.
She told jurors this man, alleged to be Allred, threatened him with the weapon and demanded his car keys, money and "the hydro set-up".
Ms Morrisroe said the male victim, who denied having car keys or a "hydro set-up", was then hit on the left shoulder with the machete, which was being brandished by the man alleged to be Elliott.
"[The intruders] shouted words to the effect of 'you know who sent us'," Ms Morrisroe told jurors, adding that the male victim replied that he did not.
The prosecutor said a friend who had been cooking dinner for the mother and son came into the garage with a knife at some stage, telling the intruders: "Well, you f---ed my cheesecake. Game on."
The court heard the offenders took the male victim's portable safe from the garage and subsequently kicked down the unit's front door, through which they entered the home and continued demanding valuables.
The incident came to an end when the pair made off with a handbag belonging to the female victim, Ms Morrisroe said, adding that the man with the machete had struck the male victim again on the way out.
The prosecutor told jurors that later the same night, police attended another Chisholm address and found a white utility that witnesses had seen in the area of the home invasion.
Officers found the stolen safe and handbag inside the car, along with a machete and gel blaster.
Ms Morrisroe said DNA consistent with the male victim was later discovered on the machete, while the gel blaster was similar in description to the gun the man had described being threatened with.
At the address where the vehicle was parked, police found numerous people including the two accused.
Ms Morrisroe said a search of Allred revealed the keys to the utility between his "clenched buttocks", where she alleged he had hidden them because he knew they linked him to the home invasion.
Allred's lawyer, Peter Bevan, did not give an opening address.
Duncan Berents, a barrister for Elliott, told the jury there was "no dispute at all" about the fact two people had "committed quite a horrible robbery", and stolen items from undoubtedly "terrified" victims.
But Mr Berents said it was Elliott's position that "two people went in there, and he was not one of them".
The defence barrister added that the jury would hear evidence of Elliott denying involvement in a conversation with his former partner.
The jury spent most of Tuesday afternoon watching an interview police conducted after the incident with the male victim, who described being "really scared" and unsure why he had been targeted.
He said he thought in the aftermath about who the assailants might have been, telling police one intruder's eyes looked like those of "an old sort of high school mate" named Brad Takkenberg.
The trial continues before Justice David Mossop, who has told the jury the prosecution case is likely to run until Wednesday or Thursday next week.
The judge told jurors he hoped they would at least be starting deliberations by the end of next week.
