A Supreme Court jury has heard a man describe the moment he was set alight and thought he was going to die.
South-west Victorian man Umit Gorgulu faces three charges, including attempted murder, relating to the incident in Hamilton on April 18, 2019.
Mr Gorgulu's housemate Kevin Taplin was placed in an induced coma for two weeks and spent one and a half months in hospital after the incident.
The court heard the pair had travelled from their home in Portland to collect Mr Taplin's motorbike in Hamilton.
Along the way, Mr Gorgulu threw his own phone out of the vehicle and then seemingly urged Mr Taplin to drive off while Mr Gorgulu looked for it.
Mr Gorgulu then hitch-hiked to Hamilton, allegedly leaving a threatening voice mail message on Mr Taplin's phone along the way.
When reunited, the jury was told, Mr Gorgulu punched Mr Taplin in the head several times and again threatened him.
The court heard that later that night Mr Gorgulu and Mr Taplin again got in an altercation, with Mr Gorgulu hanging from the door of Mr Taplin's ute as Mr Taplin tried to drive away.
'He set me on fire'
The jury heard that during this confrontation, the ute stopped and Mr Gorgulu grabbed a jerry can full of petrol from the back of the vehicle.
The defence claims Mr Gorgulu poured petrol on the roof of the ute and began flicking a lighter merely to frighten Mr Taplin.
But Mr Taplin told the court on Tuesday he felt Mr Gorgulu splash him with petrol.
"For a split second I thought he's not actually going to light it," Mr Taplin told the court.
When asked what Mr Gorgulu did next, Mr Taplin told the court in a trembling voice, "he lit it".
"He ignited the fuel — he set me on fire," he said.
Mr Taplin told the court he had "a degree of clarity in that moment" and dived out of the ute and starting rolling around on the ground to try and extinguish the fire.
"I was just completely surrounded by flames," he said.
"I was protecting my face, that's why I lost all the skin from my hands and arms."
Mr Taplin said that his rolling on the ground failed to put out the fire and "at that stage I knew I was going to die".
"That's when I screamed out for help," he said.
People living nearby poured water on Mr Taplin and hosed him down as they waited for the authorities to arrive.
Gay slurs, threats
Mr Taplin suffered severe burns to his head, torso, hands, arms, legs and internal organs.
He was flown to the Alfred Hospital later that night and placed in an induced coma for two weeks.
He had to be intubated due to the damage to his lungs, and later caught pneumonia and sepsis before finally being released from hospital six weeks later.
Mr Gorgulu has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, with his defence counsel arguing he did not intend to ignite the fuel and therefore did not intend to try and kill Mr Taplin.
Witnesses and the prosecution have outlined threats Mr Gorgulu made to Mr Taplin in the lead up to the incident, which included gay slurs, threats he would burn Mr Taplin's motorbike, and that Mr Taplin would "burn in hell".
The trial is expected to continue until the end of next week.
