A 28-year-old man, John Okoye, has allegedly killed his elder brother, Osita, after he caught him assaulting their mother, Mrs Joy Okoye.

Okoye stabbed his elder brother with a knife which was wrestled out of the hands of the deceased during a fight in Anambra State.

Osita a farmer and first son of the family returned home late on Thursday and complained to his mother that one of his cousins was trying to take their land, which he said he had already reported to security agents.

According to DailyPost, his mother in reply scolded him for taking a family matter to the police when it could have been settled amicably within the family.

This was said to have irked Osita, who accused his mother of siding his cousin to take his land and proceeded to verbally abuse her, prompting her to leave the room.

She told journalists that;

“I tried to let him see reasons why the issue would have been resolved within the larger family, instead of involving security men for his cousin brother. That was how he erupted and branded me unprintable names. He even asked me to leave his presence.

“He raised his voice but I tried to calm him down because it was late already around 10 pm. I went to lock the door just not to let out our discussion to neighbours but he went after me and flung the door wide open.

“I also explained why he should not fight with his cousin over the land. The explanation did not go down well with him.

“Before I could sit down, he slapped me and tore my dress. I ran to the backyard to get a cover for myself. It was in the process that my second child(John) came to my rescue.

“John tried to pacify him to no avail and questioned the rationale behind beating me. He (John) told him it was late already and that he should stop disturbing other neighbours. But instead of listening to him, he (the deceased) ran into the house and collected a knife to fight his brother.

“I tried to hold him back not to fight his brother with the knife, he collected the torch which I was holding and struck it against the wall and pounced on his brother, hitting him with the object twice in quick succession.

“John defended himself by forcefully snatching the knife from him, which led to a fatal injury that eventually claimed his life after he had bled profusely with no vehicle available to rush him to hospital.”

Meanwhile, the distressed mother, who condemned the deceased’s hot temper and stubbornness, said that if he had not resorted to retaliatory actions the unfortunate incident would not have happened, adding that it was difficult to separate the deceased whenever he fought.

The widow appealed to the Anambra state government to intervene in the matter by asking the police to release his son, John, and allow them to settle the case amicably within the family.

When contacted, the police public relations officer, Anambra state command, SP Haruna Muhammed, said that the police could not compound the case of mother, pointing out that the suspect would be arraigned before the court after an investigation is concluded.