David Leslie Hickson has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Napier man Campbell Paterson in Queensland, in 2014.
Mr Paterson's dismembered body was found stuffed in a chilly bin in rural Edmonton, southeast of Cairns.
Hickson, 32-year-old local, pleaded not guilty to murder, but guilty to a charge of interfering with a corpse. He was found guilty of murder earlier today.
During the trial, the court heard Hickson stabbed Mr Paterson in the neck with a "zombie slayer knife" and cut off his legs, before dumping the chilly bin containing the remains it in rural bushland.
The defence claimed Hickson acted in self-defence.
"It was Hickson's belief that he had to act," his lawyer, Peter Feeney, said.
Hickson said Mr Paterson lunged for a knife when he confronted him about text messages from a crime boss.
"I felt that I was going to get knocked. I didn't do it just for the fun of it," Hickson told police.
But the Crown disputed Hickson's claim of self-defence and argued he intended to murder Mr Paterson.
"He dismembered another human being's body and to fit it in an Esky [chilly bin], he chopped it up. He didn't call the police. His behaviour on morning of the seventh wasn't panic; it was clinical," Crown prosecutor Nigel Rees said.
Mr Paterson's family flew to Cairns for the trial.
Newshub.