Warning: Some people may find details in this story distressing.
A Dunedin teenager who killed his mother has been jailed for life.
Jordan Taylor was celebrating his 18th birthday when he attacked her in what the judge described as a "particularly brutal" way.
He was earlier found guilty of murdering his mother in their Helensburgh Rd home after an alcohol-fuelled argument.
"I have reached the view that your offending can be described as particularly brutal," Justice Melanie Harland said.
In the early hours of January 14, after celebrating his birthday with a friend and his mother Anita, Taylor turned the hallway lights off and entered her room with a dumbbell.
"You then struck her several times to the head using the dumbbell," Justice Harland said.
Crown prosecutor Richard Smith said while the killing was "rather spontaneous - it was calculated".
Taylor then wrapped towels around the stovetop and left the house, walking 4km across the city to a north Dunedin street.
There, he knocked on a resident's door and used the phone to call 111.
A short time later, police officers found Anita's body.
"The smoke alarm was beeping and there was a haze of smoke in the kitchen," said Justice Harland. "Towels were smouldering on the stove."
Anita's father wasn't at the High Court in Dunedin for sentencing but a victim impact statement was read on his behalf.
"The loss of my little girl is very severe," the statement said. "At 76 I didn't want this situation and neither did my wife."
There are details about the case and Taylor's history that have been suppressed by the court.
"It is very clear that your relationship with your mother was complicated and codependent," the judge said.
The teenager has expressed remorse, telling a report writer he feels awful and hopes family can forgive him.
"This is a young man who fully accepts and takes responsibility for his actions," defence counsel Sarah Saunderson-Warner said.
Justice Harland sentenced Taylor to life with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years.
