Returning home on Melbourne Cup night, Shannon Finemore was walking down the street with his mate when they got into a heated exchange with two men on a balcony.
"That you might think should have been the end of it - it wasn't," crown prosecutor David Finch told Brisbane Supreme Court on Tuesday.
Despite being metres from his home, Mr Finemore, 37, never got there.
Michael Trevor Royce Collins and his mate Harley Hoodless were so incensed by the exchange that they came down from the first floor apartment and confronted the two men on the street, Mr Finch said.
On the way out Collins grabbed a crowbar.
Collins confronted Mr Finemore's mate Scott McGillivrey, a jury heard.
Mr Hoodless allegedly punched Mr Finemore in the head, causing him to fall to the ground unconscious.
"It was a blow from which he never recovers," Mr Finch said.
Days after the November 2020 incident in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley, Mr Finemore died from injuries to his brain caused by the blow, the jury was told.
Collins has pleaded guilty to going armed so as to cause fear.
However, the 30-year-old has pleaded not guilty to unlawful striking causing death.
Collins later told police that he went downstairs to "put the wind up" Mr McGillivrey and Mr Finemore after accusing them of mocking him, Mr Finch said.
A woman told the jury that she was having a minor argument with her then boyfriend Collins on the balcony when she could hear Mr McGillivrey and Mr Finemore who had stopped on the street.
She said they were mimicking Collins with a silly, high pitched voice before a verbal exchange.
Collins grabbed the crowbar and went downstairs with Mr Hoodless to confront and assault Mr Finemore and/or Mr McGillivrey, Mr Finch said.
Collins later said to police "what we did was wrong", Mr Finch told the jury.
However, he said Collins then added: "But it's not an innocent party that we attacked, you know what I mean, he was trying to take the piss out of me."
Mr Finch said Collins later told police: "I had just been putting up with a lot of wankers at work and s*** lately, it just got to the point where I was just like 'f*** this'.
"I wasn't going down with the intention of hitting him but ... c***s need to learn that they can't just f'***ing mouth off with no consequences."
Mr Finch said Collins had the crowbar throughout the confrontation, having a "common purpose" with Mr Hoodless to unlawfully assault Mr Finemore and/or his friend.
"Mr Collins had not taken a backward step, he did not quit, he did not retreat. Whatever was said, his actions speak louder than words," he said.
The defence barrister said all Collins was trying to do was scare the men after they had goaded him "in his own home".
She said Collins had tried to stop Mr Hoodless who she claimed was acting on his own accord when he allegedly punched Mr Finemore.
