An Adelaide law student who showed a "chilling lack of remorse" after bashing and strangling his abusive mother has been jailed for at least seven years.
Wei Li, 23, was found guilty by a Supreme Court jury of the manslaughter of 41-year-old Emma Tien at the family's Burnside home in 2011.
The court heard Li, who was 18 at the time, beat his mother with a metal rod and strangled her before wrapping her bloodied body in bedsheets and leaving it in the lounge.
After the killing he fled to Melbourne, then to Singapore and China.
The court heard he was arrested by Chinese authorities over an expired visa in 2014 and had to return to Australia or languish in custody.
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.
Justice Trish Kelly on Thursday rejected the claim, saying Li had been provoked and lost control during an argument.
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, backdated to his 2014 arrest.
Outside court, 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.
"My solicitor is talking to (Li) now and we'll make our minds up in the next couple of days," he told reporters.
