An Iraqi man trying to flee to Australia 21 years ago says armed police observed asylum seekers board a boat on an Indonesian beach.
About 15 hours later Raad Lafta Zbari escaped from what came to be known as Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel X (SIEV-X) before it sank, leading to a "significant number of lives being lost", a Brisbane court has heard.
Mr Zbari was testifying on Thursday at the trial of Maythem Kamil Radhi, who is accused of facilitating the proposed entry of at least five non-citizens into Australia between July and October 2001.
He was in Indonesia when he put his family on a list to be on the next boat after hearing other refugees reached Australia safely.
He said two police officers were on the beach as well as people smuggler Abu Quassey, as his family boarded a small boat that took them to the SIEV-X.
Mr Zbari, speaking through an interpreter, said the officers were armed with a small pistol and "if you go back they can put you in deep trouble".
He described the SIEV-X, which left about 3am, as so overcrowded people could not even move their feet.
After about 40 minutes the vessel's engine broke but was fixed by the captain.
"After all this suffering the captain of that boat said that when we leave the Indonesian water the wave will be about 10 metre high," Mr Zbari told the court.
"People started crying, shouting."
Some asylum seekers waved down a fishing boat, with Mr Zbari and his family paying US$100 each to be taken back to Indonesia.
A total of 68 people who had been on the SIEV-X when it left Indonesia survived, leading Senior Constable Michael Sloan of the Australian Federal Police told the court.
This included 23 people who got off before the vessel before it sank.
The court heard Iraqi-born Radhi was registered with the United Nations as a refugee and resettled in New Zealand after the sinking.
The Crown alleges he was not the kingpin of the group that tried to bring the non-citizens into Australia, but instead one of those who helped the leader Abu Quassey, prosecutor Chris Shanahan earlier told the court.
Radhi, 46, is accused of doing one or more things like collecting money, arranging buses, visiting places where passengers stayed before the journey, and helping organise people at the vessel's departure point on the beach.
Defence barrister Mark McCarthy said prosecutors needed to prove Radhi's alleged involvement was over several months from July 1, 2001.
He told jurors to ask themselves during deliberations whether evidence showed that what Radhi did was done with the intention to facilitate the proposed entry into Australia of the group of at least five people, while reminding them the events occurred more than two decades ago.
The trial continues on Monday.
