Son kicked parents to death, court told

A Perth man was intoxicated and could have been sleepwalking when he kicked his parents to death in their home, a court has heard.

Vernon Silich, 44, of Nollamara in the city's northeast, went on trial in the Supreme Court of Western Australia on Monday, charged with the wilful murder of his parents Robert George Silich and Faye Lorraine Silich, both 65, in 2008.

On the first day of the trial, prosecutor Ken Tavener told the court Silich was drunk and angry when he kicked his parents to death wearing steel-capped boots on April 8 or 9 of that year.

Mr Tavener said Silich had called a friend on the morning of April 9, telling him, "I don't know what I've done, I just went berserk. I went mad."

His friend arrived at home of Mr and Mrs Silich in Yokine, in Perth's north, where he discovered the bodies.

Silich's lawyer Tom Percy QC said the deaths were motiveless and bewildering.

He said his client enjoyed a loving relationship with his parents and there was no animosity.

Silich could have been sleepwalking when the attack occurred and experts said his blood alcohol level could have been as high as 0.39 per cent, a level that would leave most people clinically dead, Mr Percy said.

Long time friends of Silich, husband and wife Cono and Ruth Onofaro, said in evidence that Silich, a taxi driver, had visited their mechanical repair business on April 8.

Mr Onofaro said that in the 28 years he had known Silich he had only known him to enjoy a very good relationship with his parents.

"He'd do anything for them," Mr Onofaro told the court.

During his visit on April 8, Silich had spoken of buying a present for his father's birthday before going to his parents for dinner, Mr Onofaro said.

Mrs Onofaro said Silich was "not one of those rolling drunks" and she had never seen him angry or violent in the 24 years she had known him.

She said he was a jovial character who joked about and teased their new apprentice during his last visit to the repair shop.

Silich's friend Paola Lutero said she had spoken to him late on April 8 after he failed to turn up at a blues club.

Ms Lutero said he answered the phone about 11.25pm that night.

"He said he was at his mum and dad's house having a few drinks," she said in evidence.

"He was talking fine and sounded fine, just normal."

She said Mrs Silich could be heard in the background asking after Ms Lutero's son.

The trial, set down for nine days, continues.