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Clive Whyte told police it looked like he was the culprit when his neighbour was killed, and now a jury has found him guilty of murder.
Martin Bebbington was on the phone to emergency services when he was fatally stabbed inside his Alexandra home, in Victoria's northeast, weeks before Christmas in 2020.
The two men had issues with alcoholism and struck up a friendship that involved drinking together.
They were drinking together on December 6, the night before Mr Bebbington died, and into the early hours of the following morning.
Mr Bebbington called triple-zero about 1.30am.
"Hey buddy, I need an ambulance here now," he told the operator.
"I don't know what he's going to do, he's got a knife with him."
The operator heard him scream four times and drop the phone. He breathed heavily for a time and then stopped.
Jurors heard Whyte then got on he phone and called the operator "brain dead" and a "dickhead".
"He's dead meat," Whyte said. "Dead, dead, dead, duh."
When asked what had happened, Whyte said they had a big argument and unfortunately Mr Bebbington was now dead.
"It looks bad. My friend is dead, we've both been drinking so it looks like I'm the culprit or f***ing whatever," Whyte said.
Prosecutor Ray Gibson had alleged Whyte deliberately killed 60-year-old Mr Bebbington, who was stabbed three times in the chest and twice beneath the chin.
He also suffered a fractured ankle and an autopsy found no defensive wounds.
Supreme Court Justice Amanda Fox will sentence Whyte at a later date.