Jie Peng, 69, had been caring for his father for six years when the elderly man was scalded by boiling hot water on May 28, 2022 as a result of a plumbing defect.
Wenmin Peng, 93, sustained serious burns to his body which became infected over the next three days as his son delayed calling an ambulance to take him to hospital.
The nonagenarian was admitted to hospital on May 31 and died four days later as a result of complications due to the burns, which had placed significant stress on an already strained body.
His son was found not criminally responsible for failing to provide required medical care to the elder Mr Peng in the NSW District Court on Monday.
The young Peng's reasoning and judgment in relation to his father's care were detrimentally affected by his mental and cognitive impairments at the time, Judge Georgia Turner determined.
She found his mental health conditions meant he was unable to reason with a moderate degree of sense that his failure to obtain medical treatment for his father was wrong.
Peng told police he noticed his father had "very severe" red burns on his body after his shower but didn't think it was too serious because his father didn't appear to be in pain.
"I thought I should take him to hospital but it was late," he told officers in an interview tendered to the court.
But Judge Turner said he had been aware of the severity of injuries, had tracked his father's deterioration and understood he might die.
Mr Peng communicated he was in pain and wanted to go to hospital two days after he was scalded but his son didn't call the ambulance until the following day, the court was told.
This was in spite of consistent and repeated recommendations by the family doctor and his wife that he take his father to hospital, Judge Turner said.
Peng told police he delayed out of concern for inconveniencing paramedics attending his house in the dark.
He also wanted his relatives to be able to visit his father for the last time before he was hospitalised and felt he had to finalise his father's will, Peng informed police.
He told relatives he was concerned his father "might be leaving the world forever" before he finally called an ambulance on May 31.
Peng's excuses did not constitute valid reasons for not calling an ambulance, a deliberate decision that caused his father major injury, Judge Turner ruled.
She found the act proven but did not hold him criminally responsible because of his mental health conditions.
The matter will return to court in July for orders which may involve a direction for mental health treatment.
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