‘I deserve to be punished but I didn’t intend to kill’
A council worker on trial for the murder of his brother after a row over the family dog has told jurors "I am absolutely devastated".
SamuelCampbell,24,died from a single knife wound to the chest during a "scuffle" with his sibling William, that followed a row about the pet, in June, jurors have heard.
Newcastle Crown Court heard the brothers, who were like "chalk and cheese" had been in the garden of their mother's home, where SamuelhadbeendrinkingBourbon and listening to music by the fire pit with the dog Marley.
Campbell had just returned from a night out in Sunderland with a friend, jurors heard.
Their mother Carolyn Campbell had heard "raised voices" from inside the house, in Silksworth, Sunderland, and gone downstairs to tell them to be quiet so as not to disturb the neighbours.
But the court heard the trouble continued and Campbell, now 26, picked up a knife from the kitchen and stabbed hisyoungerbrotherinthegarden.
Giving evidence from the witness box, Campbell was asked by his barrister NicholasLumleyQC:"Didyouintend to kill your brother?"
Campbell replied: "No, never."
Headded:"Istillcan'twork out why I went and got the knife."
Campbell said he accepted if he had not picked up the knifehisbrotherwouldstillbe alive and told jurors: "I didn't,
in no way, mean to cause him harm.
"I need rehabilitation. I deserve to be punished but I didn't intend to kill. I must atone for what has happened, I must. I am absolutely devastated."
The court heard Campbell has recently been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum and described being "teased" and "bullied" by others during his school years.
Campbell said he and his brother were like "chalk and cheese"andadded:"Iwasvery
introvert, he was very extrovert, very outgoing."
When asked how he felt about his sibling, Campbell told the court: "I loved him, I only wanted the best for him.”
Campbell told jurors he was on a visit back to the familyhomeandhadbeenoutwith a friend on the day of the fatal confrontation.
He told the court Samuel was sitting outside the house when he got back and kept offering him a drink, which he did not want.
Campbell told jurors: "He just kept shoving it in my face, IjustkepttellinghimIwanted to go to bed, I wanted to go to sleep.
"He called me boring and that I was no fun.
"The dog was next to me, I was stroking the dog.
"Hetriedtogetthedogtogo nexttohim.Hestartedraising his voice, a bit rowdy like.
"He tried to give the dog a drink, alcohol. He wanted to give the dog some."
Campbell said Samuel "squared up" to him and was "just trying to act the big one" and had pushed him and added: "I said 'right Sammy, stop or I will get a knife'."
Campbellsaidwhenhegot outside the apologies were exchanged but trouble flared again and the fatal wound was inflicted when Samuel "must havelungedandtripped"during the confrontation.
The court heard Campbell was sick when he was told his brother had died.
Campbell, of Allen Court, Stokesley, North Yorkshire, denies murder.
The trial continues.