A man has told a jury about using his backpack to protect himself on an inner Sydney street as a woman swung an axe at him.
Shane Redwood said he had seen her hit another woman with what he thought was a baseball bat, but he realised it was an axe when she crossed an Enmore road towards him nearly 18 months ago.
"I knew at that point she was going to try and hit me with the axe," he said on Tuesday, giving evidence in the NSW District Court via audio visual link from the UK.
Evie Amati, 26, has pleaded not guilty to six charges related to axe attacks on three people in the early hours of January 7, 2017.
Mr Redwood said he took off his backpack as she approached him and swung the axe at him.
Nathan Wood has told the court how he tried to fend off the attack. Source: AAP
"I swung my backpack to try and stop getting hit with the axe," he said.
She tried again, hitting the pack so hard that it flew out of his hands.
He ran across the road but fell flat on his face.
"I was expecting an axe on my head," he said.
The young woman then walked up the road, "while I picked up my bag and went home".
He had believed the woman "was going to kill me with the axe".
Nathan Wood said he was walking home when he saw a person in a 7-Eleven store raising an object over their head and swinging it hard.
"I saw a body on the floor and blood splatter," he said.
Nathan Wood "saw a body on the floor and blood splatter" as he witnessed a woman's axe attack. Source: AAP
He then saw a second body collapsed on the floor and a woman leave the building "with a dripping axe".
"She has locked eyes with me and crossed the street towards myself," Mr Wood said.
"I realised she was intending to do harm so I made a mad dash to the end of the block."
The trial is continuing.
