A homeless man who murdered someone he had met only the previous day and provided accommodation for him and his dog has been jailed for at least 17 years.
Phillip John Smith was convicted of murder and arson in February after a trial in the Supreme Court of Western Australia.
The court heard Smith was living on the streets in June 2012 when he met Damien Noakes, who offered him a couch at a friend's Mosman Park unit in Perth's west, where he was then living.
Mr Noakes allowed Smith to bring his dog with him and they spent the first night together drinking.
The next day, they caught a train to Fremantle where they hocked goods to get more money for alcohol.
When they returned to the unit, they continued drinking and Smith became teary and emotional.
"You think it was because you were talking about your daughter," Justice Stephen David Hall said during sentencing on Thursday.
"The deceased told you to snap out of it and stop crying. You said that he took you by the ears and shook your head. You accept that this was probably well intended but you say that from that point until some point later that evening you have no memory of what happened."
Smith then launched a violent attack on Mr Noakes, using a blunt instrument to hit him repeatedly on the head, face and arms.
He also repeatedly stabbed him in the back and neck, and cut the achilles tendon on his left leg.
Smith testified that his next memory was standing over the deceased covered in blood.
He then set the unit on fire and left.
When Mr Noakes' body was found, the knife was still in his neck.
Justice Hall said there was no evidence to suggest Smith was acting in self-defence or the victim was armed or threatened him in any way.
"This was not a premeditated murder; you did not plan to kill the deceased," Justice Hall said.
"It was essentially motiveless.
"It was a frenzied attack."
Smith was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 17 years before being eligible for parole.
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