A 60-year-old woman who admitted to dumping her partner's headless torso on a roadside near Gympie almost five years ago has been found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Lindy Williams was charged with the murder of George Gerbic after his remains were discovered burning on Cedar Pocket Road in September 2013.

When the trial started in Brisbane last week, Williams pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Gerbic, but admitted to dumping his headless torso on the side of the road and setting it alight.

She claimed she acted in self-defence after the 66-year-old attacked her with a knife and, in a police interview played to the jury, said she had left their home and later returned to find his dismembered torso.

Her lawyer later said Williams was responsible for dismembering Mr Gerbic.

Williams claimed she acted in self-defence after Mr Gerbic allegedly attacked her with a knife. ( Facebook )

'One of the worst cases of interference with a human body'

During sentencing, Justice Peter Flanagan said Williams deprived Mr Gerbic's family of closure by lying about his murder.

"For 10 months you undertook a very detailed and sophisticated cover-up," Justice Flanagan said.

"That cover-up, including lying to so many people.

"The act of cutting up George Gerbic with a saw which you had purchased from Bunnings is from any view an horrific act.

"This surely must be one of the worst cases of interference with a human body.

"Because you dismembered his body, it remains unknown where his head is, where his lower body is, and where his hands are."

A power tool tendered as evidence in the murder trial of George Gerbic. ( Supplied: Supreme Court of Queensland )

Justice Flanagan said if the events happened as she had told police, namely in self-defence, "it is inexplicable why a person in that situation would not have not gone immediately to police, or at least told close friends".

"There was a heartlessness in what you did by lying to George Gerbic's parents, his sons, his ex-partners and … to your friends," he said.

Williams will be eligible to apply for parole after serving at least 20 years behind bars.

George Gerbic, whose headless torso was found dumped and burnt in Gympie in 2013, and his killer Lindy Williams. ( Facebook )

In a police interview played to jurors during the trial, Williams told officers Mr Gerbic had slipped on her blood and hit his head on the kitchen bench during an argument and he was still lying on the floor when she fled the next morning.

She claimed she returned home a few days after Mr Gerbic had attacked her with a knife, to find his dismembered torso in their ensuite.

The court heard Williams was shocked to make the discovery and told detectives she thought a friend may have dismembered the body.

In his closing address on Wednesday, defence barrister Simon Lewis told jurors his client was responsible for cutting up the body but said she was trying to cover-up "something terrible" and it did not prove she committed murder.

Williams claimed she survived 'psychopathic kidnapper'

Also tendered as evidence to the court was a magazine interview Williams had given in 2007, where she claimed she had "survived a crazed stalker" and "psychopathic kidnapper", years before Mr Gerbic's murder.

Williams told the magazine she had been kidnapped and tortured for hours in bushland.

Sobbing, she claimed to have entered a beachside toilet block where she was attacked.

"No sooner had I put my foot in the door than I was hit on the head from behind," Williams was quoted in the magazine.

"I heard a loud crack and the next thing I was on the ground, wedged between the toilet and the wall with something sharp pressing into my back.

"Then I heard a man's voice saying, 'I'm not going to hurt you Lindy, I just want to talk to you. Get up and walk to my car'."

Lindy Williams' Woman's Day article speaking about surviving a "crazed stalker", tendered as evidence during the trial for George Gerbic's murder. ( Supplied: Queensland Supreme Court )

Williams said her attacker was carrying a knife and rifle and ordered her at gunpoint to walk up a secluded bush track at Mount Coolum where she was subjected to hours of mental and physical torture.

"My counsellors believe I've seen his face but have blocked it out as a way of coping … I'm dreading the day I finally remember," she said.

"He became angry and called me the devil and said he had to carve the sign of the devil into me — I pleaded with him not to, but I couldn't convince him.

"He put dirt and rocks in my mouth to stop me from screaming and he kept laughing at me."

Williams said two bushwalkers came past and saved her life, and the attacker ran off.

She claimed to have been cut across her legs arm and chest.

"The main thing is I'm here, I'm alive — he didn't get to take that away from me," Williams was quoted as saying in the magazine.

But friend Janice Brennan testified at the murder trial that Williams had confessed to making up the story more than a year after the article had been published.

The jury deliberated for almost eight hours before reaching the verdict on Friday morning.