Phillip Alastair Harris charged with murder of 63-year-old man

The 29-year-old has been charged with murder arising from the death of a 63-year-old man whose body was found inside a South Toowoomba home.

Police and fire investigators at a South Toowoomba crime scene following a fatal house fire in Rivett St, Monday, December 16, 2019. Picture: Kevin Farmer

More than two years after he was charged with murder following the death of 63-year-old Peter Weaver, Toowoomba man Phillip Alastair Harris had an appointment to see a psychiatrist, the city’s Magistrates Court has been told.

The charred remains of Mr Weaver were found inside a South Toowoomba home on Sunday, December 15, 2019.

Police claim his body had been dismembered which was found by Queensland Fire and Emergency Service officers called to extinguish a fire at the Rivett St home that night.

The remains of a dismembered dog were also found inside the home at the time.

The case against Mr Weaver’s accused killer Phillip Harris had been delayed with his legal representatives waiting for the police brief of evidence, including DNA results, to be completed and disclosed to the defence which had now been done.

Police and fire investigators at a South Toowoomba crime scene following a fatal house fire in Rivett St, Tuesday, December 17, 2019. Picture: Kevin Farmer

However, during a brief mention of the case before Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Wednesday, Harris’s solicitor Phil Stainton, of Legal Aid Queensland’s Toowoomba office, said his client had an appointment with a psychiatrist for April 4 and asked for an adjournment of the case until a couple of weeks after that.

Harris, 29, who was not required to be in court for the mention of his charges, has been held in custody since his arrest the day after police and emergency services were called to the house fire in Rivett St on the night of Sunday, December 15, 2019.

Harris has not as yet been required to enter any pleas to charges of murder, misconduct with a corpse, arson, serious animal cruelty, entering a dwelling and committing an indictable offence and serious assault of police.

Magistrate Howard Osborne remanded Harris in custody.

He also adjourned the case for mention back in the Toowoomba Magistrates Court on April 13.