Relatives and fellow villagers of a man who provided a fatal dose of pesticide for his bedridden mother to drink have pleaded for leniency, saying it was an suicide.

Prosecutors in southern Guangzhou City have accused Deng Mingjian, a migrant worker from southwestern Sichuan Province, of murder.

Last May, he handed pesticide to his mother and watched her drink it in a rented house in Guangzhou's Panyu District.

The 73-year-old, who was not named, had been paralyzed for 20 years after two strokes and suffered complications. She had said she wanted to die, Deng's relatives and his former neighbors in Sichuan told Panyu District People's Court on Monday.

It was well-known that Deng's mother had a bad temper but her son never complained, even carrying her on his back to buy her medicine, fellow villagers told the court, the Nanfang Daily reported.

"She always said she was a heavy burden to her son," one villager said.

Deng Mingjian's sister, Deng Mingfang, told the court that her mother had said she wanted to die. "My mother was terribly ill. She often said: 'My illness is beyond hope of cure and I am living a painful life, please buy some poison and let me die."

The court heard that Deng's mother asked her son to kill her last May, after she suffered a painful fall.

Tang Chengkui, Deng 's lawyer, said his client had been 'forced' to buy the pesticide.

He called for a leniency, arguing that Deng merely met his mothers's demands, rather than planning to kill her.

No verdict was announced.