A jury in a northern Tasmanian court has been shown dramatic body-camera vision of the hours leading up to the alleged murder of a 23-year-old man.
Five people are on trial for the alleged murder of Bobby Medcraft on March 29, 2020, in a street in Burnie, in Tasmania's north-west.
Cody Shane Christopher Sheehan, Lucas Shane Ford, Michael William Hanlon, Geoffrey James Deverell and Kelsey Maree Ford have all pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Medcraft.
The Launceston Supreme Court has heard he died after being bashed and chopped with a red and black sword with skulls on the handle.
The jury has also been told the brawl was the result of threatening and abusive messages on social media being sent between Mr Medcraft and his friends and the five co-accused.
Footage from Tasmania Police's Sergeant Alex Bonde body-worn-camera captured during the evening, starting at a house on Thorne Street at about 2am, was shown to the jury.
Sergeant Bonde testified he and his colleagues were on patrol in the area when they heard yelling from in front of Ms Ford's house.
The vision shows the five co-accused including Mr Sheean, wearing only boxer briefs, running around the street and up to oncoming cars.
Mr Deverell's partner, Tameika Macaulay-Close, was also there and she can be heard telling Sergeant Bonde that Mr Medcraft and two of his friends arrived making threats of violence.
Ms Macaulay-Close said she did not call for police help "because we deal with it ourselves because if we call police, we get called narcs".
The five blame Mr Medcraft and his friends for starting the disturbance.
First Class Constable Jacob Dalrymple can be heard telling the five co-accused "they've (Mr Medcraft and his friends) been causing trouble earlier tonight so don't get yourselves locked up for their stupidity".
A separate video clip from about 200 metres down the same street shows the same police speaking to Mr Medcraft and his friends.
"I'm not a person to back down, simple as that," Mr Medcraft said.
"If someone mouths off my kid, I don't care, that's the end.
"He's two years old and he's defenceless as f*** so if someone makes threats about him, I'll cut your head in."
'Come on mate, open your eyes'
The same police unit was called to Ritchie Avenue in Upper Burnie about two hours later.
The court was shown body-camera vision from Sergeant Bonde, Constable Dalrymple and First-Class Constable Patrick Roberts arriving at the scene to find Mr Medcraft laying unconscious in a garden bed behind a letterbox.
Mr Medcraft's leg is in a pool of blood and his partner Kalinda Morrison can be scene repeatedly trying to rouse him.
"Come on Bobby, open your eyes," she says as she holds his face.
Seven minutes after Sergeant Bonde arrived at the scene, he can be seen putting a tourniquet on Mr Medcraft's leg.
He can be heard saying Mr Medcraft is "deteriorating quickly".
About 15 minutes later, paramedics arrive and use a defibrillator to revive him.
'They kept threatening us'
The five co-accused defend themselves to police at the scene, with Mr Deverell saying: "We were just protecting ourselves."
"If he threatened to stab you, what would you do?" Mr Deverell asks.
Mr Sheean repeatedly gets up close to Sergeant Bonde, saying he has four children he'd like to get home to.
When police ask him to stand still, he says: "You can't keep me here."
"What have you charged me with? Nothing, so you can't keep me here."
Each of the accused has their own lawyer, and the jury has been told they will be asked to consider self-defence or defence of another.
They will also be asked to consider whether death was a likely outcome of the altercation.
The trial is continuing and is expected to go for at least six weeks.
