Student jailed for beating mother to death faces additional sentence for child pornography
An Adelaide law student convicted of bashing and strangling his abusive mother could serve an additional seven years in jail after admitting to downloading child pornography.
Wei Li, 23, was jailed for nine years after being found guilty of manslaughter by a Supreme Court jury of beating his mother to death with a metal rod and strangled her before wrapping her bloodied body in bedsheets and leaving it in the lounge. He was 18 at the time.
Li has since pleaded guilty having pornographic images and videos of children under the age of 14 on his computer, as well as perverse “anime”-style cartoons The Advertiser reported.
Four files were of children but did not include sexual activity, however five files depicted adults engaged in sexual acts with children. Nine other files were Japanese style cartoon pornogrpahy featuring sexual acts between adults and children.
He allegedly began to download the material two days after the brutal murder of his 41-year-old mother Emma Mae Tien.
After the killing he fled to Melbourne, then to Singapore and China. He was arrested by Chinese authorities over an expired visa in 2014 and had to return to Australia or languish in custody.
Li's barrister, Kevin Borick QC, told the full court of the SA Court of Criminal Appeal on Wednesday that the sentencing judge had overreached by making findings beyond reasonable doubt.
Li claimed he had acted in self-defence when his mother came at him, yelling and screaming after becoming angry because he was not practising piano.
At the March 17 sentencing, Justice Trish Kelly rejected the claim, saying Li had been provoked and lost control during an argument.
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The judge chastised Li for fleeing Adelaide after the killing, describing him as "a narcissistic and self-involved young man" whose evidence at trial was untruthful.
"Repeating a lie, Mr Li, no matter how often, does not make it true," she said.
"Even taking into account cultural differences between Australian and Chinese people, your behaviour and your conduct in the days, weeks and years after killing your mother demonstrate a chilling lack of remorse or contrition."
Justice Kelly accepted that Li's mother had subjected him to verbal, mental and physical abuse but described his description of daily beatings as "plainly ludicrous".
Li was sentenced to nine years' jail over his mother's murder, backdated to his 2014 arrest.
At the time of his manslaughter sentence, Li's barrister Kevin Borick QC said there could be grounds for an appeal on the basis of inconsistency between the "scathing" sentencing remarks and the jury's verdict.
Li has launched a bid to appeal his sentence and the court will decide whether to grant him permission to appeal at a later date.
He pleaded guilty to three aggravated counts of possessing child pornography and is expected to face the District Court on Friday morning regarding the child pornography charges.
