In drunken anger, a man killed his brother while their mother was trying to end a dispute over who walks the dog.
Samuel Campbell (24) died of a knife attack to his chest after the fight between William and him in June.
Newcastle Crown Court was told that the brothers were like “chalk and cheese” and had been in their mother’s garden, Samuel having been enjoying Bourbon while listening to music and playing with Marley at the fire pit.
Jurors learned that Campbell was ‘disapproveful’ of Samuel’s lack of a part-time job, and relied on Samuel to walk their dog. He had just returned from a night of fun with a friend.
Mother Carolyn Campbell heard voices from her home in Silksworth (Sunderland) and she went downstairs to instruct them to be quiet so that they wouldn’t disturb neighbours.
Campbell, who was now 26, stabbed his older brother in the stomach at the court after the row and fight continued.
Samuel Campbell, 24,(pictured) died from a single knife wound to his chest during a scuffle in Silksworth, Sunderland, with his sibling William in June
Prosecutor Toby Hedworth QC told the court that Mrs Campbell was woken up by the sound of her sons’ voices and said: ‘She got up and went downstairs and told them to be quiet because they would disturb the neighbours.
“There was a little bit of a fight which the mother ended. Samuel said something, according to his mother and went back outside with the dog.
‘The defendant sat down on the sofa and said he had just told his brother not to talk to the dog in the way he was doing.
‘Then, his mother noted the defendant got a bit frustrated and said ‘I’m not having this’. He responded, “I am getting a knife”.
Campbell, who was now 26 years old, stabbed his older brother in the stomach with a knife that he got from the kitchen. Pictured: Forensics and police at the scene
“He went into the kitchen. Mrs Campbell didn’t follow him in there but did go out into the garden and recalls trying to get between the sons.
“There was, she later described as a little scuffle. Samuel took off his hoodie and noticed blood on his chest.
‘At some stage their mother recalls Samuel egging his brother on and saying ‘you’ve stabbed me’ then Samuel collapsed.’
Campbell claimed that his brother was dead and that he had suffered from a flesh wound.
Campbell was heard by a neighbor saying, “It’s his fault that,”
Campbell told a police officer at the scene ‘I stabbed him out of rage’ and later claimed ‘I deserve to die’.
In a prepared statement, he stated that he had stabbed his brother. I did not intend to kill him, neither did I intend to cause him any serious harm.
‘I only wanted to defend myself against what I perceived as a serious physical threat to me from him.
‘After I stabbed him he stumbled in the garden for a short period then fell to the ground.
“I tried and revived him. I also gave him CPR. It’s unbelievable.
Because he had flashbacks, and didn’t feel mentally strong enough to handle questions from police officers, he said that he would not answer any of the questions.
Campbell, from Allen Court, Stokesley in North Yorkshire, has denied murder. Pictured: The Newcastle Crown Court trial continues
Mr Hedworth told jurors: ‘No doubt he does, by now, bitterly regret his actions but you are not concerned with regret after, what you are concerned with is the drunken rage the prosecution say the defendant was in at the time he took that knife from the kitchen and used it.’
Samuel, his sister and their mother still resided at the house. However, Samuel’s older brother moved to North Yorkshire. Samuel was only visiting the area for work.
Mr Hedworth added: ‘William Campbell doesn’t deny he caused his brother’s death but suggests he only took the knife to protect himself and maintains that his brother, in fact, came for him and impaled himself on the knife.’
Campbell, Stokesley’s Allen Court, North Yorkshire, has denied the charges of murder.
Continue the trial.