Man gets life for Gold Coast murder

A man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the gruesome stabbing of his flatmate on the Gold Coast.

Paul Gathercole on Monday pleaded not guilty in the Queensland Supreme Court to the murder of Robbie Joseph Charles at Mermaid Beach on February 1, 2014.

But a jury on Friday found him guilty of the 32-year-old's murder, with Justice Ann Lyons imposing a sentence of life imprisonment.

In sentencing, she said she accepted Gathercole had been "affected terribly" by the death of his friend.

"By your own account, he was a good bloke," she said.

"However, another man has lost his life."

In particular, she said Mr Charles' father, Robert, who was in the courtroom for the verdict and sentence, had been deprived of his son.

Justice Lyons noted Gathercole had suffered a brain injury after a car accident when he was a teenager, but said he knew he suffered from an "explosive temper".

The jury had determined the HIV-positive man at some point formed an intent to kill his friend, which was the key concern of the trial, she said.

During the trial, it was heard Gathercole had told police he'd "skitzed off" that night and stabbed Mr Charles, with whom he shared a unit.

Crown prosecutor Michael Lehane said the accused described becoming overwhelmed by a sudden rage that surged through his body.

But there was no history of serious quarrels between the pair, he said.

His sentence of life imprisonment carries a minimum non-parole period of 20 years.