Toowoomba man found guilty of killing and dismembering his neighbor before setting his house on fire

A Toowoomba man who killed and dismembered his neighbor 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 disturbing.

A High Court jury took two days to find Phillip Alister Harris, 34, guilty of murdering Peter Weaver, 63, 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 at the victim’s Rivett Street home and killed his dog.

Harris then returned to his nearby home on MacArthur Street to obtain a circular saw and fuel to dismember Mr. Weaver’s body and set fire to the victim’s home.

The killer also took beer and a television from Mr. Weaver’s home.

Harris initially denied being at the victim’s home.

But after detectives showed him video footage of the scene, Harris told them he was drunk when he entered his neighbor’s house and began looking for the killer after seeing the body.

He said he set the house on fire because he touched a few items and later pleaded guilty to arson.

In her closing submissions on Wednesday, Crown Prosecutor Nicole Friedewald said Harris tried to destroy evidence and lied to police.

Ms Friedwald told the jury: “You would think it was an attempt to distract from the horror that took place on Rivett Street.”

“Maybe he thought he could talk his way out of this situation, maybe he thought he could deceive the police.”

‘The unluckiest man in the world’

The prosecution relied on witness statements, video footage from Harris’ home and car, and interviews with investigators.

“Mr. Harris is either guilty of these crimes… or he is the unluckiest man in the world,” Ms. Friedewald said in her closing statement.

“When you put the combined force of all these parts together, the overwhelming, overwhelming and only reasonable conclusion is that Mr. Harris is not the unluckiest man in the world.

“On the contrary, he is responsible for killing Mr. Weaver.”

Harris herself did not testify at the hearing.

The defense team argued that other human DNA found at the scene cast doubt on the prosecution’s case..

life in prison

At his sentencing hearing this afternoon, Judge Thomas Bradly told Harris his actions were evil.

“You took away a father, a grandfather and probably a great-grandfather,” he said.

“This was a cowardly attack on a man in his 60s… he posed no threat to you.”

Judge Bradly sentenced Harris to life imprisonment for murder, 12 months for killing the dog, 7 years for arson, 18 months for serious assault and 5 years for tampering with a corpse.

Harris has already spent 1,811 days in custody.