Marija Ivankovic's friends were expecting to have a fun night playing cards when they arrived at her home in Melbourne's west.
Instead, they found the 81-year-old's lifeless body in the kitchen after her son Gordon Steven Ivankovic, 57, killed her hours earlier.
Ivankovic had argued with his mother about 12.30pm on June 12, 2023, before grabbing and placing pressure to her face and neck until she died.
He fled the Maribyrnong home without calling for help, leaving Mrs Ivankovic's friends to find her body five hours later.
Ivankovic has admitted his mother's manslaughter after accepting a sentence indication in the Victorian Supreme Court of a maximum eight years behind bars.
The 57-year-old looked straight ahead as his sister Janine Staples detailed her unimaginable sadness and anger to the court on Monday.
"(My mother's) absence has left a void in my life," she said.
"I feel adrift and uncertain, wishing I could hear her comforting voice. The pain of her loss will stay with me forever."
Mrs Staples' daughter Sacha also wrote a statement for the court, saying her grandmother's death had derailed her life and university plans.
"She was like a second mother to me - someone who had been by my side throughout my whole life," she said in a statement.
"Saying goodbye to her ... has been unbearable."
Police attended the Maribyrnong property five times between 1993 and 2019 in response to incidents between Ivankovic and his mother, the court was told.
He also returned to the crime scene the day after her death and asked police what was going on and if his mother was OK.
Ivankovic was not arrested until June 23, when he returned to his South Yarra home after fleeing interstate.
He was originally charged with murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter after the November 2024 sentence indication hearing.
On Monday, defence barrister John Desmond said Ivankovic had shown remorse for his crime, although he had told a psychologist he had merely shoved his mother during the argument.
The 57-year-old was abused by his father as a child and had turned to drugs in his adult life, Mr Desmond said.
Ivankovic was also diagnosed with ADHD, depression and anxiety, and he had been hearing voices in his head for the past five years, the defence barrister said.
Mr Desmond urged Justice Jane Dixon to sentence Ivankovic to less than the maximum eight years' jail she indicated in November.
But senior crown prosecutor Patrick Bourke said Ivankovic had downplayed his offending by describing it as a shove and he should not get a lighter sentence.
Mrs Ivankovic was killed by her son in her own kitchen so it was a serious example of manslaughter, Mr Bourke said.
Justice Dixon will deliver her sentence at a later date.
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