Mechanic Brandon MacGowan, 43, is on trial in the Supreme Court in Cairns for allegedly killing Scott Maitland and Cindy Masonwells, whose bodies were found in scrub near Cairns in 2012.

He denies the murder charges.

Prosecutors argue that MacGowan picked them up in a white van from Cairns Airport on July 5, 2012 – the last time the pair aged in their 30s were seen alive.

They had flown to Cairns from Mount Isa to collect a panel van MacGowan had agreed to restore for a fee of $14,000 some months earlier.

Yesterday, on the second day of the trial, MacGowan’s friend Daniel Curtis told the court the accused called him shortly after midnight on July 6, 2012, asking if he could stay at his hotel apartment in Cairns.

He said MacGowan sounded stern and that when he arrived he had streaks of blood on his trousers and jacket, and blood coming from a wound on his hand.

Mr Curtis also noticed bruising on his friend’s knuckles and MacGowan complained of having sore ribs.

‘‘[He said] he got into a fight. Got into a blue with a fella,’’ he told the court.

‘‘There wasn’t much talk. [He said] that would be the last he’d hear from him.’’

He also told the court he noticed blood on the outside and later on the inside of a white van MacGowan had allegedly driven to his apartment that night.

MacGowan told police Mr Maitland and Ms Masonwells left his workshop in their panel van on July 5, 2012, and had planned to drive back to Mount Isa.

Defence lawyer Josh Trevino was expected to question Mr Curtis later yesterday.

It’s alleged Mr Maitland died from a single gunshot wound to the back of the head and Ms Masonwells likely died from a single or multiple stab wounds.

During his opening address on Monday, Crown prosecutor Todd Fuller told the court that MacGowan’s failure to carry out $14,000 of restoration work on the couple’s panel van was the reason for the killings.