A man twirled a knife repeating the words "I'm going to stab you" in a singsong voice on the weekend Queensland woman Shandee Blackburn was killed in 2013, an inquest has heard.
Dean Leard apparently left the Mackay house he was in for up to an hour and a half before returning as an emotional wreck.
Then Mr Leard said he wanted a haircut to look "real mean" like an "animal" so no one would recognise him.
These are the recollections of Mackay man Guy Thomas who concedes he was "dead set off his chops".
Ms Blackburn, 23, was stabbed multiple times in a frenzied attack metres from her door as she returned from a late shift at Harrup Park Country Club just after midnight on February 9, 2013.
Mr Thomas claimed legal privilege in relation to drug use when he gave evidence at the inquest into Ms Blackburn's death on Tuesday in Mackay.
He largely referred back to his initial police statement because he couldn't remember "90 per cent" of the weekend in question.
But he said he could remember Mr Leard repeating the words "I'm going to stab you".
"I remember all that full-on stuff because it was creeping everyone out," Mr Thomas said.
He told police he felt Mr Leard left the house they were in for sometime from midnight to 4am on the weekend of Ms Blackburn's death.
When Mr Leard returned he was an "emotional wreck" and wanted a haircut, which Mr Thomas gave him.
Counsel assisting the coroner John Aberdeen asked Mr Leard if he was involved in Ms Blackburn's death when he also gave evidence on Tuesday.
He denied any involvement saying "all I remember is driving past the scene" of her death when police had swarmed the area.
Mr Leard, who was 18 at the time, said he was living in his car in 2013 and had carried a knife for protection from a young age.
Asked if he stabbed people, he said he did not and "I'll punch on with someone before I do that".
The inquest heard Mr Leard left Mackay after Ms Blackburn's death.
Coroner David O'Connell asked Mr Leard what his dominant hand was after noting he wore a watch on his right wrist. Mr Leard said he was left-handed.
The inquest has heard from a pathologist who said stab wounds suffered by Ms Blackburn were more likely to come from someone who was right-handed.
The man acquitted of her murder in 2017, John Peros, was questioned at the inquest on Monday.
The inquest has also heard from former person of interest William Daniel among dozens of witnesses.
Australian Associated Press
