Dominico Zapata/Stuff
Rydell Tuaupiki Martin, 27, said he used the axe "not to hurt [Phillip Macpherson], just to defuse the problem" of a fight in Joseph Street, Pukemiro .
His axe blows struck bone on two occasions, but a man accused of murder says he didn't mean to kill.
Rydell Tuaupiki Martin, 27, is facing trial for a murder charge over a death following a street fight in a Waikato township.
Martin accepts he delivered the fatal axe blow that severed an artery in Phillip Macpherson's leg, in Pukemiro on March 1, 2019.
But he says he's guilty of manslaughter, not murder.
Martin, also known as Tuo, said he used the axe "not to hurt him, just to defuse the problem", the High Court at Hamilton heard on Monday.