"A man that looked like he'd been beaten up ... a complete stranger," the Crown witness described the man.

"He basically said that he had been held in a shed and beaten and asked if he could use my phone."

The witness said the man used his phone on speaker to call police and "become increasingly paranoid" when cars passed his property.

"He said that he was held hostage, held in a shed and tied to a chair and his phone and cigarettes were taken off him and he had been hit with a stick," he told jurors.

The witness said the man had blood on his knuckles, swelling on his face and was holding his ribs.

He said the stranger declined to reveal details about where he had been and who with.

"He was very careful in what he said, so I could not be put into any danger ... to start off with he gave me a false name," the witness said.

The St Leonards resident gave evidence in the trial of Nathan Scott Davidson, 40, and co-accused Gene Boyer Jaehne, 28, in the Supreme Court on Thursday.

The two men have pleaded not guilty to joint charges of Criminal Code assault and aggravated assault upon complainant Adrian Michael Berg.

The allegations arose in a shed at Mr Davidson’s St Leonards property between 2.30pm and 6pm on May 28, 2014.

Mr Davidson has been accused of being the principal offender.

The Criminal Code assault charge alleges the men grabbed hold of Mr Berg, pushed him to the floor, dragged him along the floor, punched him to the head a number of times, kicked him to the body a number of times, struck him to the body with a wooden stick, tried to discharge a stun gun on his arm and deprived him of his liberty.

The aggravated assault charge alleges that the men also pointed a pen gun towards Mr Berg’s face, saying, ‘‘I’m going to shoot you now,’’ and pointed it at his feet.

The trial, before Justice Robert Pearce, continues.