A man accused of inflicting fatal blows on a Lower Hutt man using an ornamental cat as a weapon has been found guilty of murder.
Sean Brown, 26, has been on trial at the High Court in Wellington charged over the death of Harold Skudder in January 2007.
Mr Skudder had been lodging with Brown's mother. His body was found down a steep bank in Upper Hutt in March last year.
The Crown argued that Brown murdered him by hitting him three times with the 15kg statue, but Brown says he was provoked into acting in defence of his mother and brother.
After four hours of deliberations, the jury of five men and seven women returned its unanimous verdict of murder about 3pm on Friday.
Brown will be sentenced on 9 May.
