Prince Papay Fahnbulleh, 27, is on trial for murder after he stabbed 25-year-old Yohana Angok to death in an alleged crime of passion in June 2023.
Fahnbulleh arranged to collect belongings from the western Sydney home of his ex-girlfriend Janika Bevin, and asked his friend Adrian Shillingsworth to drive him there, the prosecution said.
Mr Shillingsworth on Thursday testified he drove Fahnbulleh to the apartment in his white Ford Falcon, saw him go around the side of the building and heard a scream before the then 24-year-old returned with bloody arms.
"I heard some words to the effect of 'get the f*** out' ... from a female voice", Mr Shillingsworth told the Supreme Court.
Ms Bevin had left Fahnbulleh's clothes at the front of the building, but the accused jumped a side fence and scaled a set of stairs into her unit uninvited, crown prosecutor Mark Hay said in his opening statement on Wednesday.
Fahnbulleh found Ms Bevin in bed with Mr Angok and flew into a jealous rage, the Crown alleged.
"(He) ran to the kitchen, returned with the intention to stab and, the crown case is, to kill or cause grievous bodily harm to Mr Angok", Mr Hay said on Wednesday.
"He just told me to drive", Mr Shillingsworth told the jury on Thursday, recalling the moment Fahnbulleh returned to the car minutes later.
"I just saw blood and I was panicking," he said.
After dropping Fahnbulleh off, Mr Shillingsworth recalled he drove himself home before walking to the nearest police station, electing not to drive there because of the bloodstains on his passenger seat, dashboard and roof lining.
Mr Angok's DNA would later be found on swabs taken from the Ford Falcon's door, seatbelt buckle and sun visor, court documents show.
Fahnbulleh has pleaded not guilty to murder, saying he knifed the 25-year-old in self-defence.
Three days before the stabbing, Farnbulleh hijacked Ms Bevin's phone and used it to send Mr Angok threatening messages, court documents read out on Thursday show.
"(Yohana Angok) yeah ... he's dead, he's dead, watch me", he reportedly told Ms Bevin.
He later texted Mr Angok: "Were (sic) you at I'm not going to stop till you get shot in your head think I'm playing".
In his opening statement on Wednesday, defence barrister Scott Fraser SC told the jurors "a first impression might have been to wonder what we're doing here" after seeing Fahnbulleh's texts.
"This trial is, members of the jury, not a whodunnit", he said.
But the barrister urged the jurors to consider how Fahnbulleh's messages might have made the victim react to seeing Ms Bevin's ex-boyfriend in the bedroom that day.
He argued Mr Angok was armed and instigated the violence.
"Could (the defendant's messages) in fact ... explain the actions of the deceased prior to him being stabbed?" Mr Fraser posited.
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