The man accused of murdering Nicholas Dill and attacking his girlfriend has claimed he was actually the victim of a fight between them.

Taking the witness stand yesterday at Supreme Court, Andre Hypolite said he ended up in the foetal position on the floor, trying to defend himself.

He also complained that the prosecutor in the case was attempting to make what happened to him look "insignificant".

The case against Hypolite is that he took drugs with Mr. Dill, 44, and his girlfriend Stacey Pike, now 37, at their Warwick home early on Boxing Day 2004.

He is alleged to have stabbed Mr. Dill in the back after he changed his mind about participating in a sex act with him.

It is further alleged that Hypolite chopped Ms Pike in the head when she tried to intervene by grabbing a machete.

She said during her evidence earlier in the trial – now in its third week – that she subsequently hit him with the machete.

The accused man is said to have escaped through a window after the Police were called. He denies murder and wounding Ms Pike with intent to cause her grievous bodily harm.

Giving his account of events yesterday, Hypolite told the jury he met Stacey Pike in the early hours of Boxing Day morning on Spice Hill Road in Warwick. He said that she asked him if he had any cocaine, which he did, and he agreed to go back to the shack where she lived with Mr. Dill.

When he got there, he said Mr. Dill and another man, Shakai Govia, were present. Mr. Govia was watching a porn movie on television and Mr. Dill was on the bed, naked. He claimed that Mr. Govia, Ms Pike and Mr. Dill took ecstacy tablets, supplied by Mr. Govia.

Mr. Govia left, leaving Hypolite, Mr. Dill and Ms Pike together, and they all smoked crack cocaine. At this point, he said, Ms Pike began to give him oral sex at her prompting as they all sat on the bed. Contrary to Ms Pike's evidence for the prosecution, Hypolite said he did not take a knife out and place it down on the dresser in the bedroom. However, he told the court he did have a flick knife folded up in his bag.

Asked about Mr. Dill's demeanour by his lawyer, John Perry QC, Hypolite replied: "Nick was high and he started to just become agitated."

During the oral sex, Hypolite said that Mr. Dill left the bedroom and went to the kitchen area, and Ms Pike began to prompt him to have full sex with her. However, Mr. Dill walked in as she leaned back on the bed and allegedly launched an attack on Hypolite.

"I heard the door close, I was about to turn around and I got struck on the head, on the base of my skull. I had fallen to the floor, I curled up into the foetal position, and I covered my head and I continued to take hits along my left back, shoulder area and kicks to the lower part of my spine," claimed the defendant.

He went on to allege that he tried to turn over and saw Mr. Dill swing something at Ms Pike, and her raise her hand and jump backwards on the bed.

He then described seeing Mr. Dill dash towards the right side of the bed where Ms Pike was. As he tried to get up, he said: "Nick continued to grab at me and kick me. Stacey launched off the bed and struck Nick in the back with something chrome."

He described how a struggle ensued between Mr. Dill and Ms Pike, with him getting hit over the head a couple more times as he tried to crawl towards the door.

He claimed that Mr. Dill at one point grabbed him in a choke hold around the neck, then grabbed him in a bear hug as Ms Pike attacked him with a knife he described as over a foot long, with grooves in the centre of the blade. He refuted Ms Pike's evidence that he engaged in sex acts with Mr. Dill during the prelude to the violence.

Cross-examining Hypolite, Senior Crown Counsel Paula Tyndale asked him to show a scar on his forearm that he claimed resulted from the attack. When she said she had difficulty seeing it, Hypolite complained: "You're making it seem like my wounds are insignificant, like my life is insignificant."

The case continues.