A man accused of stabbing another man to death in Ironbark last year will face trial in the Supreme Court following a committal hearing in Bendigo on Thursday.

Odin Gillin, 20, pleaded not guilty in the Bendigo Magistrates’ Court to one count of murder in relation to the death of 18-year-old Hayden Coleman in Energetic Street on September 10.

Michael Hannaford, who was at the house at the time of the alleged stabbing, told the court a “scuffle” broke out between the two men shortly after Mr Gillin arrived at the house in the early evening.

“Supposedly Odin had given him up for something and Hayden wasn’t very happy,” he said.

“Odin was telling Hayden to f--- off, denying he had said something to the police.”

Mr Hannaford said Mr Coleman then “started pushing Odin back towards the front gate to get him to leave” and Mr Gillin was “pushing back”.

“They were both just swearing at each other, calling each other f---heads, rats, dogs,” he said.

As the pair approached the car Mr Gillin had arrived in, Mr Hannaford said Michelle Russell, who drove Mr Gillin to the address, started “swinging a little metal-working hammer around” and threatening people.

“She was running around quite frantic with the hammer,” he said.

Mr Hannaford said Mr Gillin and Ms Russell both appeared to be affected by drugs at the time, saying “they were both pretty wired.”

“It was a cold night and he was sweating quite badly,” he said.

“You have to be off your head on methamphetamine or something like that.”

It was at this point Mr Hannaford said he began “bumpering [Mr Gillin] to the front of the car to keep Hayden away from him and him away from Hayden” as Mr Coleman was “getting very angry”.

“Hayden was saying ‘Let me fight him’ and Odin was saying ‘Yeah, I’ll fight him’,” he said.

Mr Hannaford said he then saw Mr Gillin make a movement towards the car before lunging at Mr Coleman, striking him in the upper chest, near his shoulder, but did not see a weapon in his hand.

“Odin lunged at Hayden which I thought was throwing a punch at him,” he said.

“I’d seen him go down briefly and come back up but at this stage I was not really worrying about what’s in his hands.”

Mr Hannaford told police he believed Mr Coleman was going over to the car to “whop him one” and Mr Gillin’s barrister, Peter Chadwick QC, asked him if he was “going over there to assault Odin”, to which Mr Hannaford replied, “pretty much”.

Mr Gillin will return to court for a directions hearing on September 18 before facing trial at a later date.