Wayne Kerry Bray took five blows to the head, all from different directions and they could all have caused or contributed to his death, the Crown alleged at the trial where six young men face joint charges of murdering the Timaru man.
Mr Bray, 26, died in hospital four days after getting punched, kicked and stomped in a street attack in Bouverie Street, Timaru, on February 2.
The Crown says all six were involved and has charged them jointly with the murder but in the statements they made, almost all of them are blaming the others.
In a long crown opening statement to the High Court in Christchurch, prosecutor Tim Gresson said there was history between Mr Bray and one of the accused, Simon Antony Anglem.
Anglem told the police that he had fathered a child with the woman who was Mr Bray's girlfriend and he blamed Mr Bray for breaking his grandmother's windows.
Before the court are John Oliver Jamieson, 20, a fisherman, Morgan Christopher James Parker, 17, a freezing worker, Anglem, 17, a labourer, Ashley Jordan Moffat, 17, a butcher, Nicholas John Peters, 17, a freezing worker, and Daniel Raymond Kreegher, 19, a boner.
The jury will be taken to Timaru by bus tomorrow to see the locations described to them in Mr Gresson's address today.
He described a series of text messages and conversations in the hours and days after the attack in which some of the accused told of beating a man. One witness would say the group told him they had "smashed someone over" and the mood of the group was quite happy.
One member of the group told of them being in a fight and someone having been "kicked over".
Another one told his cousin: "I am going to get a lot of years."
After Mr Bray's death on February 6, pathologist Dr Martin Sage carried out an autopsy.
Mr Gresson said: "Essentially he found Mr Bray died as a result of blunt force head injuries resulting in bleeding within the head, and significant brain swelling and raised intra-cranial pressure."
The right skull bone was fractured.
Surgery had been carried out to relieve the effects of haemorrhaging on both sides of the brain.
The injuries were typical of a long assault resulting in multiple impact points.
"He concluded there was no evidence that his injuries were the result of a single impact to the head from a fall from a standing height. The pattern and extent of the injuries and brain damage were more compatible with being punched, kicked, or stomped on numerous occasions.
"There were blows from five separate directions each of which could have caused or contributed to death. The case is that this is consistent with five or more kicks to the head of the victim from different directions or angles."
There will be 92 witnesses called, including several eye witnesses.
Defence counsel made statements on behalf of all six accused, saying that they had to consider the actions of each accused in isolation. One described the incident as "testosterone-fuelled argy-bargy".
All said the young men had not committed the assault that caused the fatal injuries and had not "encouraged or assisted anyone else".
The counsel urged the jury members to not make up their minds until they had heard all the evidence and the closing addresses.
