A son has confessed in court why and how he brutally snuffed life out of his violent mother in a bid to stop her from always hurting him.
Wie Li yesterday as he appeared in court
A high-flying law student has confessed to murdering his mother, but claims he was acting in self-defence.
Speaking in court, Wei Li who was 18-years-old at the time of the murder and told the jury he suffered violent abuse at his mother’s hands when he did not get straight A’s.
He revealed to the court how his mother, Emma Tien, 41, ‘went berserk’ in March 2011 when Li skipped piano practice in favour of a martial arts lesson which later ended with him murdering her. He said she ran at him, yelling and screaming and hitting him with a metal bar while trying to choke him.
Li told the court he knew he couldn't reason with his mother and had no choice but to try and stop her.
"It happened so fast. At some point I realised she had something in her hand, just going at me," Li told the South Australian Supreme Court on Wednesday.
"I think she wanted to kill me. I had no choice but to fight back."
According to the YahooNews7, the prosecution alleged Ms Tien was beaten with a metal rod and strangled before her body was wrapped in bedsheets and left in the lounge of the family's Burnside home.
The guilty son said it was never his intention to hurt his mother and told the jury how she had beaten him for years when he didn’t get straight As.
He explained why he wiped up his mother’s blood: "I thought, ‘I'm gonna get in trouble. It's gonna stain the marble floor’."
Wei Li pictured here as an 18-year-old lad
He also claimed he was bruised, scratched and beaten as punishment. But, the prosecutor pointed out no injuries were seen in selfies he took at a Melbourne apartment after her death.
It was also revealed that researching killing methods was part of his decade-long obsession with suicide. It was alleged that after the killing Li fled first to Melbourne and then to Singapore and China.
The law student was returned to Australia in 2014 after being detained by Chinese authorities.
He also admitted to covering his mother's body "out of respect" but said nothing after that point was rational.
"I didn't know what was happening. I didn't know where I was. I didn't know what to do," he said.
Li also admitted to travelling to China to 'go back to my family'.
The trial continues.