A court has heard a man allegedly murdered in front of his home on Christmas Day three years ago had been woken by his fiancee after a stranger in their neighbours' backyard threatened her.

Russell Klein, 55, died after being hit by a car in the front yard of his home in Millmerran, 210 kilometres west of Brisbane, on the evening of December 25, 2022.

Callum Anthony Padaric Cook, 33, is accused of driving the car into Mr Klein.

He pleaded not guilty at the start of a week-long jury trial in the Toowoomba Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The first witness called by Crown Prosecutor Hamish McIntyre was Mr Klein's fiancee, Janene Hall, who said she noticed a stranger in the backyard of their neighbours' house on Christmas evening.

The court heard she went outside to check on her barking dogs

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