Aaron Campbell on trial for alleged Calwell car wash machete attack

"Where are the drugs?" the alleged offender, nicknamed "Doggie", is said to have yelled.

"What the f--- are you doing, bro?" the alleged victim responded.

On Tuesday, an ACT Supreme Court judge-alone trial heard Aaron Kenneth Campbell, 37, plead not guilty to attempted aggravated robbery, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and property damage.

While CCTV captured the incident, Campbell denies being the offender.

The incident took place in the early hours of February 11, 2022, after the alleged victim received a call from a man who identified himself as "Chris" and another unknown man.

Prosecutor Caitlin Diggins said Chris asked the alleged victim: "Can you help us out with any stuff?"

Giving evidence, the alleged victim said he agreed to meet at a car wash in Calwell "because I was curious" and the two men on the call sounded "suspicious".

The alleged victim claims he arrived at the car wash and was circled by another car, a Hyundai i30, which the court heard pulled up and blocked his car's path.

Seconds later, CCTV footage shows a man, who the alleged victim told the court he recognised as being Campbell, holding a machete and exiting the Hyundai.

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Campbell is accused of shattering the alleged victim's driver side car window with the machete while asking for drugs and swinging the weapon.

"The machete came flying at the window," the alleged victim said.

The alleged victim placed his car in reverse and crashed it into a pillar.

Campbell allegedly continued swinging the machete at the other man, who was now outside the car, striking the side of his head and his right ring finger.

"He told me not to say anything," the alleged victim said.

The alleged victim told the court he then ran, while being chased for a short time, to a nearby petrol station for help.

CCTV allegedly shows Campbell return to and look inside the man's car, before driving off.

The alleged victim's dog is said to have been sitting in his car's passenger seat during the incident.

"Thank f--- my dog was alright," the man said on police body-worn camera footage played to the court on Tuesday.

The alleged victim, whose head and right hand appeared to be bandaged during that police interview, told officers that while he used drugs, he did not have any illicit substances in his car.

The court heard evidence the Hyundai i30 was hired under Campbell's name and licence months earlier from Hertz.

It could not be said for certain if Campbell had physically picked up the hire car, but a Hertz employee said it was standard procedure for customers to be checked against their driver licences.

Ms Diggins said when police arrested Campbell three months after the alleged attack, he possessed a key and keyring from the car rental company.

Campbell also faces a possess offensive weapon charge, for which he is yet to enter a plea.

The trial continues.

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