Western Australia machete slasher guilty of man's murder

A man has been found guilty of slashing the jugular of a fellow partygoer at a New Year's Eve beach rave with a machete, causing him to bleed out on the sand.

Joseph Robert Houston was accused of fatally stabbing James Dorloff, 20, and wounding another man on Western Australia's Wedge Island in January 2014 before fleeing and burying the weapon in the dunes.

After a 10-day trial in the West Australian Supreme Court, Houston was found guilty of both murder and grievous bodily harm.

The jury had heard Houston had concealed the 30cm-long blade in his pants when a drunken scuffle broke out between two groups.

Witnesses testified Houston was swinging the machete and screaming "come on c****, who wants to have a go?" and "who wants to get stabbed?" before attacking Mr Dorloff.

Mr Dorloff's best friend told the court James was in shock but able to say "he stabbed me" before collapsing and bleeding out on the sand.

Katie Cross said Mr Dorloff, her boyfriend, was not involved in any of the fights but ran off into the crowd when he saw someone threaten his younger brother Mitch.

Ms Cross broke down when she described how she saw Houston take a swing at her boyfriend, who fell to the ground.

"When I got closer to him that's when I knew some damage had been done," Ms Cross said.

The trial heard Houston slashed another man who had tried to prevent him fleeing before burying the weapon and his blood-stained shirt in the dunes.

Houston hitched a ride back to Perth with a friend and handed himself in to police the next day.

He will be sentenced later this year.