An accused axe-murderer allegedly assaulted a fellow camper when she suggested calling an ambulance for the deceased.

Ahwen Kohn, 26, faces a murder charge after a camping companion died with critical head injuries.

Kohn made a bid for release at the Bail Division Court on Tuesday afternoon, but will remain behind bars after magistrate Miranda Moody described the allegations as “brutal” and “most serious indeed”.

A 33-year-old man was declared dead by paramedics on Monday after the incident at the Little Styx River campground in Ebor, about 80 kilometre east of Armidale, on the NSW northern tablelands.

One of his friends, a 25-year-old woman who was also camping with the pair, drove the injured man for about an hour to Thora, in northern NSW, to get him medical attention.

The court heard the 25-year-old told police she was assaulted when she suggested they call the man an ambulance. She then managed to convince Kohn to let her drive to a nearby town.

A separate witness who Kohn asked for a lift to the main road told police he was inquiring about off-track areas.

“[Kohn] referenced an argument occurring, but didn’t elaborate and said ‘you don’t want to know’,” police prosecutor Sergeant Mark Sinclair said in court.

Sinclair said a “very strong” police case involved three witnesses, including the woman who saw the alleged murder and described alleged axe strikes as “incompatible with life”.

On Monday, police arrested Kohn about 15 minutes’ drive away from the campground in Ebor. They alleged he was carrying a knife when arrested.

Defence lawyer Matthew Spicer suggested strong bail conditions could warrant Kohn’s release, as well as his minimal relevant criminal history.

But Moody said that potentially made the allegations worse.

“There’s a real concern a man with no record would allegedly commit an offence as serious and as brutal as this one,” she said.

“A man with limited history … would allegedly commit a murder so serious [with] facts involving an axe to the deceased.”

Kohn, from Thora, was charged with murder, intentionally choking a person with recklessness and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

He was refused bail and will appear in court in Armidale on April 22.

-AAP