A teenager has recalled the moment his “enraged” father allegedly repeatedly slashed his mother with an axe and then pointed the gun at him when he tried to run for help.
The 19-year-old son of Dinush Kurera gave evidence to a Victorian Supreme Court jury on Thursday about the night his father killed his mother in the family home.
The 47-year-old man admits to murdering his ex-wife Nelomie Perera in December 2022, but pleaded not guilty to murder because he claimed to have acted in self-defense to save his own life.
Kurera also denies several elements of murder and says he did not attack his son, whom AAP has chosen not to identify.
The son, who was 17 when his mother died, gave evidence to 14 jurors via video link from a remote location on Thursday.
Kurera sat emotionless at the back of the court as she watched her son detail his alleged violent attack on Ms Perera.
After 11 p.m. on Dec. 3, the teen said he heard screams coming from downstairs.
He and his younger sister went downstairs and saw Kurera standing near the back door with an axe “raised over his shoulder.”
Dinush Kurera, 47 (pictured left), is accused of murdering his wife Nelomi Perera in front of their own children.
Kurera’s 19-year-old son gave evidence to a High Court jury on Thursday about the night his father killed his mother, Nelomi Perera (pictured), at their family home.
“I couldn’t see Mom, the dining room table blocked my view, but I could hear her pain,” he said.
‘I assumed Mom had gone out for a smoke and Dinush would be hiding in the backyard, because Mom was very paranoid about keeping doors unlocked and never left them open.’
The teenager claimed his father threatened to kill them all, by pouring gasoline around the house and setting it on fire, if they tried to flee.
Ms Perera called for an ambulance, but Kurera asked her son to bring her an ice pack, she said.
The teen said Kurera allowed his mother to go to the bathroom and the family moved to the couches in their living room.
He said that when Kurera asked him if his mother was dating other people, the teenager replied “she had been dating several people.”
“She said ‘you called me a whore so I decided to be one’, that’s when Dinush stood up and swung the axe but stopped before hitting her,” the teenager said.
Kurera (pictured left) denies hitting Ms Perera with an axe in the living room or assaulting her son with the weapon, his lawyers have previously said.
‘She brought up the cheating situation… Once she said that, though Dinush stood up, furious, and had an aggression that I had never seen in him before.’
Kurera struck Perera with the axe three times “within the space of five seconds” while she was sitting in the recliner, he told the court.
“She looked lifeless every time he hit her, and she just took it,” the teen said.
“I saw blood coming out, so as I was about to strike for the fourth time I ran to the back sliding door.”
But the door was stuck and he said Kurera caught up with him, hitting him on the head with the axe.
He managed to open the door and Kurera allegedly hit him in the shoulder with the axe, causing the teenager to fall to the ground.
“I grabbed one of the chairs by the outside door and used it as a shield, however, he swung the axe towards my left knee and connected with the sharp end,” she said.
“Someone had pulled Dinush off of me, giving me time to run around the side of the house into the street… and scream for help.”
Kurera denies hitting Ms Perera with an axe in the living room, or assaulting her son with the weapon, his lawyers have previously said.
The trial continues before Judge Amanda Fox.