A man charged with murder over the 2009 fatal stabbing of a Melbourne chef wanted to "teach him a lesson", the Victorian Supreme Court has heard.
Witness Terapat Tepsut, 32, told the court his friends Thatiya Terdputham, 40, and Sarud Seehaverachart, 32, got into a fight with Luke Mitchell, 29, before he died on the morning of May 24, 2009.
Mr Tepsut said he saw Terdputham and Seehaverachart being "beaten up" by Mr Mitchell on Sydney Road and after Mr Mitchell ran away, Terdputham told Mr Tepsut, who owned a nearby massage parlour, to get some knives.
Mr Tepsut said he ran into the shop and took four "big knives", giving one to Terdputham.
"All three of us agreed to go down," Mr Tepsut told the court through an interpreter.
"Because they'd been beaten up we were going to follow him and beat him up."
Asked by Crown prosecutor Andrew Tinney SC if anything was said about the fight, Mr Tepsut said Terdputham told him: "We'll follow him and teach him a lesson".
The three men drove to a 7-Eleven store where they found Mr Mitchell.
Mr Tepsut said they ran towards Mr Mitchell but he didn't see if Terdputham still had the knife.
"I only saw when they started fighting, hitting each other," Mr Tepsut said.
The next thing he saw was Mr Mitchell lying on the ground with blood around him, he said.
"It was very confusing, there were people around, left and right and then he was on the ground."
Mr Mitchell died in the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Thai nationals Terdputham and Seehaverachart have pleaded not guilty to murder.
A meat cleaver and three knives, including a bloodied chef's knife, were found at a building site near the stabbing, Mr Tinney told the court.
Mr Tepsut said he disposed of the knives.
When asked, he said Terdputham gave him the bloodstained chef's knife.
The trial continues before Justice Christopher Beale.
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