Vic man accused of fatal housemate bashing

A man accused of fatally bashing his housemate with wood for hours at their home in Melbourne's southwest allegedly cut off victim's toes believing the Russians sent him.

Daniel Hounslow faced Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday, charged with murdering 49-year-old Micah Kalawek in Wyndham Vale on March 24.

The 42-year-old is yet to enter a formal plea.

Stephen Brooks, who had moved into the house about a week earlier, told the court he realised Hounslow had "lost his marbles" and gone "loopy" since he last saw him.

"He was a completely different man," he said, having known Hounslow for five years.

On the day of the alleged murder, Mr Brooks came home to find Hounslow doing kung-fu moves and acting erratically.

"He was buggered. Like when an athlete puts his all in," he told the court via video link.

Over lunch, Hounslow allegedly told Mr Brooks he'd killed their housemate.

"He then told me he bashed him for three hours in the house and in the backyard. He said that he had been asking who'd sent him while he cut his toes," his statement reads.

"He was telling me that the Russians had sent him."

Mr Brooks said Hounslow allegedly told him he'd dragged his housemate's body, with a hose around his neck, to the back of the shed before covering him with leaves.

Hounslow allegedly asked Mr Brooks to get him a shovel to bury Mr Kalawek.

Instead, Mr Brooks left the house.

"When he told me he killed him, I did not believe him," Mr Brooks told the court.

Hounslow told another roommate, Nethanial Pearce, "he's around the back of the shed" before asking him to call the dead man's wife, court document reveal.

Mr Pearce told Hounslow to call the cops, left the house and waited for police.

In Mr Brook's statement, he also stated Hounslow believed Mr Kalawek had been placed there to set him up and had drugged or poisoned him.

Among his "bizarre stories", Mr Brooks said Hounslow believed he was angel.

Hounslow was known to be frequently alcohol-affected, the court was told.

Kristy Law told the court Hounslow, who is the father of her child, had been the "love of her life" but he had changed over the years.

More witnesses will give evidence on Thursday when the committal hearing resumes.