Toowoomba man found guilty of murdering and dismembering neighbour before setting fire to home
Emergency crews at Rivett Street on the evening of Sunday 15 December, 2019. (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)
In short:
A man who stabbed his neighbour to death in 2019 and later returned to dismember him and set his home alight has been found guilty of murder.
A Supreme Court jury took two days to find Phillip Alister Harris, 34, guilty of the murder of 63-year-old Peter Weaver in Toowoomba on December 2019.
What's next?
Harris has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder.
A Toowoomba man who killed and dismembered his neighbour before setting his house on fire has been found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
WARNING: This story contains details that some readers may find distressing.
A Supreme Court jury took two days to find Phillip Alister Harris, 34, guilty of the murder of 63-year-old Peter Weaver in Toowoomba on December 15, 2019.
During the trial, the jury heard shocking details of how Harris stabbed Mr Weaver 23 times with hunting knives inside the victim's Rivett Street home and killed his dog.
Video footage showed Harris travelling to the victim's home multiple times on the day of the murder. ( ABC News Baz Ruddick)
Harris then returned to his own nearby home on MacArthur Street to retrieve a circular saw and fuel to dismember Mr Weaver's body and set the victim's house alight.
The killer also took a beer and television from Mr Weaver's home.
Harris initially denied being at the victim's home.
But after detectives showed him video footage placing him at the scene, Harris told them he was drunk when he went inside his neighbour's home and after seeing the body, began searching for a killer.
He said he set fire to the home because he had touched several items and later pleaded guilty to arson.
In her closing submission on Wednesday, Crown prosecutor Nicole Friedewald said Harris had tried to destroy evidence and lied to police.
"An attempt, you might think, to distance himself from the horrors that lay inside Rivett Street," Ms Friedwald told the jury
"Maybe he thought he could talk his way out of this, maybe he thought he could fool the police."
'Unluckiest man in the world'
The prosecution relied on witness testimonies, video footage taken from Harris's home and car, and his interviews with investigators.
"Mr Harris is either guilty of these offences … or he is the unluckiest man in the world," Ms Friedewald said in her closing argument.
The prosecution argued the evidence made it clear that only Harris was present at the time of Mr Weaver's death. (ABC News: Tobi Loftus)
"When you bring together the combined force of all of these pieces … the irresistible, the overwhelming, the only reasonable conclusion is that Mr Harris is not the unluckiest man in the world.
"Rather, he is responsible for killing Mr Weaver."
Harris did not give evidence himself in the trial.
His defence team argued other human DNA found at the crime scene raised doubts about the prosecution's case.
Life in prison
At a sentencing hearing this afternoon, Harris also pleaded guilty to serious assault with the circumstance of aggravation.
Justice Thomas Bradly told Harris his actions were evil.
"You have taken away a father, a grandfather, and likely a great-grandfather," he said.
"It was a cowardly attack on a man in his 60s … he presented no threat to you."
Justice Bradly sentenced Harris to life in prison for murder, along with 12 months for killing the dog, seven years for arson, 18 months for the serious assault and five years for interfering with a body.
Harris will be eligible for parole after serving 20 years.
He has already served 1,811 days in custody.