Wei “Daniel” Li found guilty of manslaughter over death of mother Emma May Tien at Burnside in 2011

A SUPREME Court jury has found Wei “Daniel” Li guilty of manslaughter over the death of his mother at Burnside in 2011, but acquitted him of murder.

A SUPREME Court jury has found Wei “Daniel” Li guilty of manslaughter over the death of his mother at Burnside in 2011, but acquitted him of murder.

Li, 22, had pleaded not guilty to murdering Emma May Tien but said she died by his hand during an incident of self-defence in their home.

The jury of six men and six women retired at 12.45pm and found him guilty of manslaughter just before 8.30pm on Monday.

At 4pm, they returned to ask Justice Trish Kelly for legal definitions of murder, manslaughter, provocation and willful act.

They also asked if it was reasonable for them to consider Li’s emotional state, arising from his relationship with his mother, at the time of the incident.

Prosecutors alleged the killing was premeditated, as evidenced by Google searches for stabbing and police avoidance techniques.

The court has also heard Li tried to buy a one-way ticket to Singapore after the incident, and did not return to Australia for three years after fleeing to China.

Li took the stand to refute the allegations, claiming his yelling, screaming mother “came at” him in a fit of rage because he was practising martial arts instead of the piano.

Wei “Daniel” Li, inset, and the Burnside home he shared with his mother.

He claimed she had been physically abusive toward him for years, that his father was an alcoholic, and that he went to China to forget about the killing.

Prosecutors, however, insisted that was an “invention” to justify his actions, and cross-examined Li about his hiring of a male prostitute in Melbourne before his departure.

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