Sydney man cuts off part of dead brother’s ear in DNA row over will

A Sydney man has been charged for cutting off a chunk of his dead brother’s ear so he could prove a DNA theory he believed would help him win an inheritance battle.

Jian Zhong Li admitted to A Current Affair that he cut off a “little bit” of the ear on the day of his brother Jian Ming Li’s funeral.

He said he did it because he was convinced that Ming’s son, Cheng Zhang Li, was not his biological child because of a suspicious beard.

“Because full beard showing,” Jian Zhong told A Current Affair.

“My friend, few of them say, ‘No, not like your family’.”

Zhong Li said he asked his nephew for a DNA test but he refused.

Ming Li owned a million-dollar Sydney property when he died and Jian Zhong believed their 91-year-old mother deserved some of the money.

After the undertakers refused to help him get DNA from his brother’s corpse, Zhong Li and his son broke into the coffin and snipped off the chunk of flesh.

“I had no other way this time because a few hours later he burn,” Zhong Li said, admitting to storing the sample in his fridge.

Jian Zhong Li shows off the tool he used to make the cut. Photo / A Current Affair

But his plan came undone when he needed the undertaker to sign a document to help confirm the sample was legitimate, in order for testing to proceed.

The undertaker reported him to police and Zhong Li was charged with interfering with a corpse.

Cops took the ear and the pliers he used to take the sample.

Zhong Li told A Current Affair that he took the ear because he heard “the hair is no good”.

The row over the property continues in court but Cheng Zhang Li has been established as the biological son of Jian Ming Li.

But his brother refuses to believe it and wants to go another round with the ear.

“I test. Double check,” he said.