Li found guilty of manslaughter

An Adelaide man who bashed and strangled his mother before fleeing to China has been found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.

The South Australia Supreme Court jury returned the verdict against Wei Li, 22, on Monday after deliberating for more than seven hours.

The law student was accused of killing 41-year-old Emma Tien in 2011, with prosecutors telling the court he beat his mother with a metal rod and strangled her before wrapping her bloodied body in bedsheets and leaving it in the lounge of the family's Burnside home.

After the killing Li, who was 18 at the time, fled first to Melbourne and then to Singapore and China.

He was returned to Australia in 2014 after being detained by Chinese authorities.

In his evidence in court Li said he had acted in self-defence when his mother came at him, yelling and screaming after becoming angry because he was not practising piano.

"It happened so fast. At some point I realised she had something in her hand, just going at me," he told the court last week.

"I think she wanted to kill me. I had no choice but to fight back."

Li said his mother had been physically abusive towards him for years.

Under cross examination he said the days after his mother's death were close to a blank.

He repeatedly said he could not recall or did not remember many of his actions, including contacting bus and rail companies.

The court also heard he ignored more than 100 phone calls from his father and other calls from police.

But he denied prosecution allegations that all his actions were designed to evade authorities and said he only wanted to get to his father and his extended family in China.