On day two of a three-day trial, Denys Huts, 62, took to the witness box.

Huts pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to dangerous operation of a vehicle causing the death, by electrocution, of Mitchell Liam Grehan.

In a video played to the court of the police interview from January 30 last year, Huts said he'd arrived at Mr Grehan's Cloncurry property to move a shipping container off the back of a truck.

He said after he'd moved the container, with the help of Mr Grehan and Mr Grehan's girlfriends father Stuart Johnston, he was asked to move a second container.

"I was just about to jump out?go home..and on spur of the moment there was an old container next to the house?," he said.

"I said I didn't see any problem with that Mitch - mates helping mates..you know."

Huts said the three men had noticed the ground on either side of Bell Street was wet and muddy.

He said he decided to reverse the crane down the street to an area where Mr Grehan had stored other containers.

"The only reason we backed out was so I'd have some sort of vision.

"I could see the containers and I could see the fence in the left-hand mirror.

"I could see Mitch's signalling hand."

Huts said Mr Grehan, who had been walking alongside the container holding it steady with his hand on a chain, suddenly moved from his line of sight.

"I've got a funny feeling his hand must have gone higher up the container.

"After that Mick came running up the front of the crane..he kept pointing under the container?I thought he wanted me to lower the container down - he waved no, no, no.

"I opened the door of the crane -as I jumped out I've seen the wires."

During the interview Huts described how he'd helped pull Mr Grehan out from under the suspended container and performed CPR and resuscitation till an ambulance arrived.

"We got a phone call about 10 minutes later saying Mitch had died.

Huts described Mr Grehan as "smart" and a good worker.

"Young Mitch was good, he knew what he was doing, he was my eyes."

He told the court he and Mr Grehan had performed a "take five" risk assessment of the area and neither men had noticed the overhead power lines on Bell Street because the sky was cloudy and overcast.

"The only hazard we could see was the dampness on the side of the road, and the mud. Power lines don't often cross the road?and if they do, there's usually some sort of signage -and there wasn't.

"There were no poles, they were hidden by trees. There were no lines, they were hidden by clouds."

Defence lawyer Mr Collins described the incident as a "honest mistake".

"The defence case put simply is Denys Huts didn't see the wires...he would never had driven down Bell street if he'd been aware."

Judge Bradley is expectedto summarise the case today and the jury will then retire to make their decision.