An accused killer stabbed his former housemate 73 times before cutting his throat, a court has heard.
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Christopher David Navin, 28, admits he killed his estranged friend Nicholas Sofer-Schreiber on Boxing Day 2013.
But Navin had pleaded not guilty to murder by way of mental impairment.
His defence team says the "frenzied horror" of the fatal attack reveals the work of a deranged mind.
The prosecution instead alleges anger and revenge had motivated Navin to slay Mr Sofer-Schreiber in his Lyneham home.
Friends found Mr Sofer-Schreiber - an avid music fan affectionately known as the Ginger Ninja – lying dead with stab wounds from two knives to the back, left side and neck two days later.
Three stab wounds to Mr Sofer-Schreiber's neck severed major arteries and caused his death, the court heard.
Navin went on trial in the ACT Supreme Court on Monday for murder.
Crown prosecutor Margaret Jones told the court the former housemates had fallen out over the repair bill for damage to Mr Sofer-Schreiber's home - which they had shared - six months earlier.
Mr Sofer-Schreiber had filed civil action to recover the cost of the damage, but the case settled when Navin paid $60.
Jurors heard Navin had attempted to reestablish contact with Mr Sofer-Schreiber, repeatedly calling and texting him in the months before the killing.
Ms Jones said they had chatted at Christmas drinks on December 24 and organised to meet, but Mr Sofer-Schreiber then ignored Navin's calls.
The prosecutor said the pair had a chance encounter as Mr Sofer-Schreiber bought a tent at the Canberra Centre on Boxing Day but did not speak.
The Crown alleges, later that evening, a snubbed and rejected Navin collected two knives from his home before going to the Lyneham home where he fatally attacked Mr Sofer-Schreiber.
"It was anger and revenge that motivated the accused," Ms Jones said.
The court heard Navin then drove to family property near Grafton, in northern NSW, where he allegedly burnt evidence - including the two alleged murder weapons - and threw them into a dam.
Police raided the property in January 2014 and Navin was arrested and charged the following month.
Defence barrister, Stuart Littlemore, QC, told jurors that the defence would dispute little of the prosecution case.
He said the only real issue to be decided during the trial was Navin's state of mind at the time of the fatal attack.
The court heard Navin had a history of mental illness and claimed to have been hearing voices for months leading up to his arrest.
"When he killed him, when he stabbed him, was he mentally ill?" Mr Littlemore asked.
The silk warned jurors to expect to be shocked by the "terrible evidence" to be presented during the trial.
But he said the "frenzied horror" of Mr Sofer-Schreiber's death would support the defence case.
"To do that, Chris Navin couldn't be in his right mind," Mr Littlemore said.
Mr Littlemore also questioned the motive alleged by the Crown.
He questioned whether a $60 debt had really been a motive and argued his client's social isolation may have had more to do with his illness than as a motivation as alleged by the prosecution.
"[It's] an utterly fanciful explanation," he said.
The trial before Justice John Burns continues on Tuesday.
