Police say they are pleased a jury today found Eric Smail guilty of the murder of his tetraplegic friend Keith McCormick.
Detective Senior Sergeant Corrie Parnell told One News the verdict was also pleasing for the family of Mr McCormick as it had been a long time coming.
"Five years on it's another stage in the process and we're very pleased today," he said.
Mr McCormick's mother Dot said the family was elated when the verdict was read out.
"I screamed, I cried and I think my detective cried too, we were both so relieved and happy."
Earlier Eric Smail shook his head as the jury announced in the High Court at Christchurch it had found him guilty of the murder.
Smail, 53, is now awaiting sentence on August 11, after Justice Lester Chisholm remanded him in custody and ordered a pre-sentence report to be prepared at the end of the 16-day trial.
The jury delivered its guilty verdict at 11.45am, after a full day of deliberations.
Smail had denied murder with the jury told at the start of the trial he would admit manslaughter, citing provocation as his defence.
The trial centred on Smail's personality being unsuited to the work he came to be doing as a caregiver for the disabled friend, and being unable to handle the mounting pressure.
Smail told of resorting to heavy drinking and eventually hating being in the house in the Christchurch suburb of Sumner with Mr McCormick, 56. He described the bedroom as being "like a tomb".
He saw Mr McCormick's condition as deteriorating and decided after a day of drinking in July 2005 that his friend would be better off dead.
He returned to the house that evening, late for his shift as a caregiver, and decided that if there was any further incident he would kill Mr McCormick.
When Mr McCormick complained to him about his lateness and his drinking, Smail took a knife from the kitchen and cut his throat.
The crown said the killing was "premeditated, not provoked" because Smail had already decided to kill his friend and had not "snapped".
The defence characterised it as a momentary loss of self control under huge pressure.
