Deadly Qld bashing 'got out of hand'

BRISBANE, March 4 AAP - A man accused of killing a Gold Coast drug addict admitted to taking part in a bashing that got "out of hand", a murder trial has heard.

Darren John Britza, 31, was allegedly attacked at an industrial shed in Southport in March 2001 and his tarpaulin-wrapped body driven away in a white Holden Commodore.

His skeletal remains were found in March 2008 after two fishermen saw a pair of boots sticking out of the dirt underneath Canungra Creek Bridge, about 35km west of Southport.

Shane Anthony Eric Hansen and Dean Mark Wills are on trial in Brisbane's Supreme Court and have pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Britza.

Hansen's former housemate told the court on Friday that Hansen and Wills disappeared for a few hours from a party that was held about March 2001.

The housemate said Hansen was erratic and uptight when he returned and was carrying what looked like a sheet or a blanket.

Sometime during the next few days Hansen told the housemate that he and Wills had bashed someone and it had "got a bit out of hand", the court heard.

Hansen's then-girlfriend told the court that one night, either late 2000 or early 2001, Hansen said he and another man, whom she believed to be Wills, we're going to "shut someone up".

She said Hansen returned some hours later covered in mud and was visibly stressed.

"He said 'we shut him up'," she told the court.

"He was shaking and he wasn't right."

The court heard on Tuesday that a white Holden Commodore that belonged to Hansen was found on fire at Clagiraba, about 12km northeast of the Canungra bridge, the day after Mr Britza disappeared.

The trial continues.