Giving evidence for the first time in the trial the accused murderer told the court Mr Ingham died accidentally when he collapsed on the fish tank in the West Ulverstone unit the two men shared.

Mr Gale said he panicked and attempted to cover up his housemate's death as he feared being accused of murder.

"I was scared of being charged with something that I'm charged with now," he said.

He said Mr Ingham's death came immediately after the two men had a drunken argument and scuffle with an axe handle in which Mr Ingham received a minor head injury.

Following the scuffle, Mr Gale said he walked away and heard Mr Ingham collapse on the fish tank from another room.

Seeing his housemate dead or dying on the floor, with a serious head injury caused by the fish tank and the minor injury from moments before, he said he began to fear he would be blamed for the death.

He told the court that fear led him to cut Mr Ingham's head off and bury the body in bushland at Dulverton, instead of calling emergency services.

"I decided to cut his head off, because he had two wounds and I knew that if the police saw the wounds they would assume he was killed," Mr Gale said.

"I thought they wouldn't know who he was without a head."

The court has previously heard from forensic scientists that Mr Ingham was identified by his fingerprints.

Mr Gale also said that fear led him to drown Mr Ingham's two small bichon frise dogs and dump them in the Dulverton bushland nearby Mr Ingham's Jeep Cherokee, which he said he set fire to and destroyed.

He said he then rode a bicycle from Dulverton to Devonport where he dropped Mr Ingham's head in the Mersey River, before cycling back to the West Ulverstone unit, which is a total distance of about 35 kilometres.

Mr Gale said he then cleaned the unit and began a series of lies to the police, friends, neighbours and his brother about what had happened to Mr Ingham.

"Once I had started doing what I had done it was like a big snowball. It got bigger and bigger and worse and worse and I didn't know how to stop it," he told the court.

He said until he was arrested and charged with Mr Ingham's murder in December 2016, he did not tell another person the truth about what had happened to Mr Ingham.

He said he did not cause Mr Ingham's death and has pleaded not guilty to murder.

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