Aaron Hadfield was not defending himself against two men who attacked him in his car before being fatally stabbed, a court has heard.

Shayd Robinson, 20, is charged with the murder of Aaron Hadfield after stabbing him once in the chest on January 26 in Stokes Valley.

Alexandra Davis was going to get milk when she saw two men run across the road towards  Hadfield's car. He had just turned the corner from George St and Davis said she did not think he was going fast.

She said the two men were sprinting and got to the open driver's side window and began attacking him.

"The look of it was so violent,'' she told a jury in the High Court at Wellington.

Davis said Hadfield seemed almost prone and had his hands on the steering wheel.

"I was concerned that he was already so badly hurt that he couldn't move. I couldn't understand why he didn't put his foot on the accelerator and move away,'' she said.

"I could hear the thuds,'' she said.

She said Robinson and his associate got frustrated when they were unable to get Hadfield out of the car and kicked at the side of the car.

Davis said she did not have her phone and went to a nearby bar to call police.

When she got back Davis saw Hadfield was lying beside the car on the grass verge moaning in pain and bleeding.

She said he kept trying to get up, but he was obviously in pain.

Hadfield died in hospital the next day.

Yesterday witnesses described seeing Robinson lick the knife he used and say he liked the taste of Hadfield's blood.

- © Fairfax NZ News