AN argument about methamphetamine stolen during a drug rip at Cessnock spilled out of a house on the Central Coast before Russel Rajapakse repeatedly stabbed Corey Breceljnik in the stomach and chest, a witness has told Newcastle Supreme Court.
Mr Rajapakse then turned to the 26-year-old's friend and said: "don't f--- with my people", the man, a key witness in Mr Rajapakse's murder trial, gave evidence on Tuesday.
And later, when Mr Rajapakse heard a helicopter hovering overhead, he laughed and said: "I must have got the c--- good", the man claims.
Mr Rajapakse, of Gorokan, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Breceljnik, known as "Sticks", outside a home at Watanobbi on October 25, 2020, after he was sent to retrieve 11 ounces of methamphetamine stolen from Cessnock earlier in the night.
Mr Rajapakse has also pleaded not guilty to aggravated assault with intent to rob and his three-week trial in Newcastle Supreme Court is focusing on whether it was Mr Rajapakse who inflicted the fatal stab wound to Mr Breceljnik's left armpit during a struggle over the stolen drugs.
One of Mr Breceljnik's friends, who went on the drug rip, gave evidence on Tuesday, telling the jury he initially thought Mr Rajapakse was punching Mr Breceljnik outside the home in Slim Close, Watanobbi.
"Russ was standing there and I thought he was punching him and then I realised he was stabbing him in the gut and I jumped backwards," the man said. "[One of Russ's friends] said "don't worry he is not going to touch you". I saw Sticksy just drop and there was a big pool of blood around him. I just turned around and ran up the street."
The man, who broke down in tears while retelling the incident, said he was "100 per cent" sure he had seen the knife in Mr Rajapakse's hand and that is what made him "jolt" and then run away.
He claimed Mr Breceljnik was not throwing any punches and Mr Rajapakse struck him between three and five times "in the stomach and chest area".
"He was leaning on the brick wall and he slid down the wall and was on the ground," the man said. "I saw blood coming out, like he was losing a lot of blood real quick. "When I ran backwards at the start, [Mr Rajapakse] said: "don't f--- with my people" or something like that."
The man said he returned to the front of the house where Mr Breceljnik had been stabbed after he thought Mr Rajapakse and others with him had left. But they were still there and Mr Rajapakse told him to get into one of the cars.
He said he was driven to a motel at Gorokan where he claims Mr Rajapakse told him he was "a little bitch for running off and that I am lucky that he knows my sister".
He said within about five minutes of being at the motel, those present could hear a helicopter overhead.
"He was laughing about it saying "I must have got the c--- good"," the man said of Mr Rajapakse.
After he was stabbed outside the house in Slim Close, Mr Breceljnik was rushed to hospital but died the next day. Medical staff later told police they found two grams of methamphetamine stashed in a bag in his underpants.
The trial, before Justice Sarah McNaughton, continues.
