A young man was stabbed and saw his teenage friend collapse after an attack by a group armed with knives, bottles and baseball bats studded with nails, a judge has heard.
A judge-only murder trial of 12 defendants at Brisbane Supreme Court on Wednesday heard testimony from a victim of a group attack allegedly committed by the accused.
Girum Mekonnen, 19, died from a 25-centimetre deep stab wound near a soccer club's playing fields at a park in the north Brisbane suburb of Zillmere at 5pm on September 13, 2020.
Kyle Jonas Avenido told Justice Lincoln Crowley he was friends with Mr Mekonnen and they bought 24 bottles of Great Northern beer along with Canadian Club whisky before heading to the park.
"We were just chilling. All of a sudden a guy from our group said ‘run’. They came and attacked us," Mr Avenido said.
All 12 defendants have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Mekonnen.
The defendants also pleaded not guilty to 10 other charges of causing grievous bodily harm, unlawful wounding and assault against 10 alleged victims.
Prosecutor Nathan Crane asked Mr Avenido if the attacking group had covered their heads.
Mr Avenido said he could see their faces and they were all of African appearance and wearing "pretty good fashionable clothes" while being armed with batons or baseball bats.
"I said 'please don’t do it. I don’t know you. I don't know what’s going on'," Mr Avenido said.
He said he was hit in the head by a bottle thrown by the attackers before being struck in the chest and stabbed in the back, causing him to bleed profusely.
The defendants are Kresto Wal Wal, 28, Gabreal Wal Wal, 31, Santo Wal, 36, Yohana Wal Wal, 23, Joseph Lokolong, 28, Majok Riel Majok, 23, Alex Edward Deng, 22, Chan Kuchmol Kon, 28, Abraham Ajang Yaak, 30, Ben Abio, 23, Juma Makuol Deng Makuol, 27, and Malat Akoi Makuach, 25.
Mr Crane previously said the attack in the park was retaliation against a group accused of severely bashing the brother of four of the defendants.
Mr Avenido told Justice Crowley one of the attackers pointed a bat at his group and said “you hurt my brother”.
Mr Avenido said his group was in a state of "shock and disbelief" during the attack and he retreated to a nearby ditch before a passer-by took him to get medical help.
"I saw Girum. I saw him collapse face first into the dirt. I knew I could not help him as I was severely injured. I kept moving," Mr Avenido said.
Under cross-examination from barrister Scott Lynch, acting for Kresto Wal Wal, Mr Avenido agreed members of his group had thrown beer bottles at the attacking group.
"They attacked us first. The people who threw bottles did it to protect themselves," Mr Avenido said.
The trial is due to run for five weeks and hear from more than 240 witnesses.
