SA family devastated by psych ward murder

Stephen Barton's sights were set on coming home and starting afresh when his sister visited him in a psychiatric ward in August 2014.

Hours later, he was found dead in the most shocking of circumstances.

A South Australian Supreme Court jury has found fellow patient Lindon Luke Sekrst, 25, guilty of murdering Mr Barton in their shared room at the Noarlunga Hospital.

The court has heard the 43-year-old was strangled with such force it fractured his Adam's apple.

Delivering victim impact statements on Wednesday, Mr Barton's devastated sisters spoke of their anguish at the terror he would likely have experienced before his brutal death.

"I will never forget the last time I saw Stephen," eldest sister Glenis Westerhoff said.

"He was happy and jovial and so looking forward to going home. I was excited about Stephen going home so he could get on with his life."

Mr Barton had suffered from paranoid schizophrenia since his early 20s.

But his condition did not define the generous, caring and thoughtful man with a wicked sense of humour, his sisters said.

They urged Sekrst, whose claim that the killing was in self-defence was rejected at trial, to reveal the truth about Mr Burton's death.

Sekrst sat with his head bowed in the dock as Annette Burden described the immense toll his crime had taken on the family's health and relationships.

"Can you comprehend what it's like to tell your elderly mother her youngest son has just been murdered?", she asked Sekrst.

"Do you have any feelings of guilt or remorse about what you did?"

"Yes. Yes I do," Sekrst replied.

Psychological reports indicated Sekrst was likely suffering a drug-induced psychosis at the time of the murder, Justice Trish Kelly said.

But Sekrst, who had a history of drug use, had disputed this version of events.

He will be sentenced next Wednesday.