Wayne Michael Connors was accused of a crime that took place almost two years ago.

He was accused of bashing a man at a flat in Ainslie Village, after a night out at the Krave nightclub in Civic.

He waited to face a three-day jury trial in the ACT Supreme Court in March on charges of aggravated robbery and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The alleged bashing took place in June 2011, after the victim invited Connors, Lawrence Cross, 27, and an unidentified man to his place after Krave closed, the court heard.

A scuffle started after the victim, nicknamed 'Popeye', returned from the toilet to find the unidentified man had stashed a laptop under his clothing.

The Crown alleged that the victim was then repeatedly kicked and had his face stomped on for at least 10 minutes, leaving him with serious injuries.

His flat was then allegedly ransacked, with clothing he had just bought for his young children stolen.

The victim was highly intoxicated, rating himself an eight or nine out of 10 on a scale of drunkenness, and the defence lawyer claimed he was disoriented and confused.

Connors' lawyer said he was not in the room at the time, and had waited outside.

There was no forensic evidence to link Connors to the room; the defence said it came down to a ''word-on-word dispute'' between the pair.

The three-day jury trial of Connors took place in March before acting Justice John Nield.

But the trial was aborted in dramatic circumstances, moments before the jury were due to be sent out to begin their deliberations.

Connors' lawyer had asked for the jury to be directed that the Crown had presented their evidence on a charge slightly different to what was listed on the indictment.

After a heated argument, Justice Nield said he would have to discharge the jury and abort the trial, despite the protests of both parties.

The case was re-listed in the ACT Supreme Court, and Connors was forced to wait for a new trial date, but the 31-year-old died of a heart attack.

He was not behind bars, having earlier been bailed by the courts.

Cross, the second man facing court over the incident, told the Supreme Court on Friday that Connors was ''like a brother''.

The 27-year-old attended Connors' funeral recently, and said the death had left him ''hurting on the inside''.

Cross pleaded guilty to common assault and robbery, but his lawyer said he was ''clearly not a leader, he's a follower''. Cross was also friend of the victim's, and said he wished he could take back what happened.

The court heard he had three young children, and expressed remorse at stealing clothes bought by the victim for his kids.

He told the court of wanting to look after his children and his partner, with whom he was very close.

Cross is expected to be sentenced later this week.