Vancouver Provincial Court heard testimony Friday of how two women barricaded themselves in a bathroom in a West End apartment while a crazed man used a hammer to smash in the door in a scene one of them compared to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.

The roommates were trying to protect themselves from Jerome Bonneric, a neighbour who had just cut down their third roommate, leaving her bleeding on the floor as part of a vicious rampage, recalled another stabbing victim, Natalie Moon.

“People think of The Shining, of Psycho, it’s not something you would expect to happen, ever,” Moon told CTV News outside court.

“I thought I was going to die. It felt like a horror movie except it was real."

Bonneric is on trial for the January attacks, which injured six of his neighbours and a police officer. He has admitted to the facts of the attacks in court, but has pleaded not guilty, arguing he is not criminally responsible because he was having a psychotic break.

Moon, who is an actress from Britain, said that she had been living in the apartment, Westpoint Terrace, for several months with her two roommates, Stephanie Gilmour and another woman who can only be identified as Ms. Y.

Moon said she came to know Bonneric as a nice, well-groomed man who often walked his dog and occasionally walked her to work.

“There was no red flag of any kind. I never would have expected this from him,” she said.

Moon testified that the three roommates were in one bedroom getting ready to eat a cake because they'd had a bad day. That’s when they heard a knock at the door and Ms. Y went to answer it.

Bonneric was at the door with a knife, smiling and muttering in French, his native tongue, the court heard. He suddenly stabbed Ms. Y three times with the knife.

Moon said she rushed out of the bedroom to see Bonneric standing there, his facial expressions changing with his words. She saw Ms. Y on the ground, bleeding, and then Bonneric stabbed her as well in the stomach.

“I was bleeding a lot, and holding onto my stomach. I thought, this doesn’t happen in real life. If I don’t do something fast, I’m going to die,” she said.

Moon testified she grabbed the knife with all her strength and disarmed the man.

“I swore to him, I looked him in the eye, and said, ‘I will stab you.’ I really meant it. He backed up and that gave my friend a chance to take us to the bedroom.”

Bonneric left the apartment, but returned a short time later with a hammer. He smashed through the bedroom door. The women fled to the bathroom, and held the door shut as the hammer splintered the door.

“We didn’t know if we were going to make it. We looked at each other and we said we’re going to die, this is the end,” Moon said.

Bonneric left after a noise in the hallway. Eventually, the police called out, but the women were suspicious that Bonneric was back, testified Stephanie Gilmour.

“I was yelling, ‘Are you actually cops?’” Gilmour testified. When the pair heard two voices in a local accent, they agreed to open the door.

Bonneric's lawyer said the accused plans to testify in his own defense. The trial is expected to last through February.