PETER Weaver was a "Novocastrian through and through", an intelligent man with a quirky sense of humour who loved his family more than anything else.
The victim of an assault in Newcastle in the early 1990s that left him with a brain injury, Mr Weaver, 63, was vulnerable and reclusive in his later years since moving to Toowoomba.
And last week his family say someone took advantage of that vulnerability.
Mr Weaver was found dead inside his fire damaged home in Rivett Street, South Toowoomba, on December 15.
His body had been mutilated and his house doused in fuel and set alight.
His beloved dog, Max, was also found dead inside the home.
"Dad never, ever deserved that," Mr Weaver's daughter, Danae Weaver, told the Newcastle Herald.
"He was so harmless. "There was nothing he could possibly have done to ever have brought that on himself."
Phillip Alastair Harris, 29, was arrested at a nearby home and later charged with murder, misconduct with a corpse, arson, enter dwelling with intent, serious assault police and serious animal cruelty.
He appeared in Toowoomba Magistrates Court last week and was refused bail to appear again on February 18.
Ms Weaver, one of Mr Weaver's four children, said her father would be remembered for his quirky personality, his intelligence and his passion for a healthy debate.
But his life was never the same after he was the victim of an assault in Newcastle in the early 1990s that left him fighting for his life.
"We got the call from somebody at the hospital to come and say goodbye to dad," Ms Weaver said of the aftermath of the 1990s assault.
"We got there and he just kept beating all the odds. They didn't think he was going to live and he did. They didn't think he was going to walk again and he did. He was a very intelligent man. Even with his brain injury he was able to figure things out for himself."
No one was ever charged with assaulting Mr Weaver in the 1990s, Ms Weaver said.
"He was never the same," Ms Weaver said. But his love for us never changed."
Mr Weaver's family are planning a funeral service at Toowoomba on January 3.
But they say his final resting place will be in Newcastle, the city they say will always be his home.
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