A man accused of trying to kill his neighbour claims he was "trying to be a hero" for a woman before he traded blows with the alleged victim while holding a pair of scissors.
Wayne Anthony Tompkins, 43, gave evidence on Monday in the Queanbeyan District Court, where he is standing trial after pleading not guilty to three charges.
They include wounding his male neighbour with intent to murder, and an alternative charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
On Monday, Tompkins told the jury he went to the aid of a woman at his neighbour's unit, on Lowe Street in Queanbeyan, one night in May 2022.
He claimed he heard the woman screaming before he saw the neighbour grab her by the throat and punch her in the face twice.
Tompkins said he was about to defend the woman when his neighbour started punching him.
He gave evidence he was still holding a pair of scissors, which he had been using to "chop up" cannabis, as he started swinging back at the neighbour.
"I was panicking. I was in fear," Tompkins told the jury.
"I was just swinging to defend myself."
Tompkins admitted he had not tried to contact police in the aftermath of the incident, conceding he had been concerned about going to jail.
"I'm Aboriginal and police don't like me," he said.
Under cross-examination, Tompkins repeatedly rejected a prosecutor's suggestions that he had been the aggressor and that he had accused the alleged victim of being "a rapist dog" before attacking him.
He also denied claims he had made comments consistent with an intention to kill his neighbour, insisting he had only been trying to "save the day" for the woman.
During her closing address, the Crown prosecutor urged the jury to "totally reject" Tompkins' evidence.
"It doesn't make sense," she said.
"It doesn't fit with the other evidence. It's improbable."
The prosecutor also encouraged jurors to find the alleged victim and the woman were honest witnesses, admitting they were "not perfect" but denying suggestions they had colluded on a version of events.
She said jurors would recall the woman, who spent much of the incident "cowering in fear", being "bewildered" by the suggestion the alleged victim had choked her.
The third charge levelled at Tompkins is that he detained the woman without her consent.
He is accused of doing this in order to "control" the woman and prevent her from leaving the unit and telling anyone about the attack on the alleged victim. Tompkins also denies this allegation.
In his closing address, defence barrister Jason Moffett said there was no dispute about the fact Tompkins had, with the scissors, caused wounds to the alleged victim's throat and upper left arm.
However, he urged the jury to find his client had done so while acting in self-defence.
Mr Moffett said if Tompkins had intended to kill the alleged victim, or cause grievous bodily harm, jurors might think the 43-year-old had done "a pretty ordinary job".
The barrister also cast doubt on how the alleged victim and the woman had described the incident, saying Tompkins' neighbour would have been "covered in stab wounds" if their versions were true.
"He would've been like a pin pillow," Mr Moffett told the jury.
"He would've had wounds all over him. That's not the case."
Mr Moffett also noted Tompkins had, during cross-examination, said he was sorry it had all come to this.
Such a statement was, Mr Moffett argued, consistent with a man who had acted in self-defence.
Judge Peter Whitford SC told jurors he expected they would begin deliberations on Tuesday morning, once he had summed up the case.
