Study materials and the blood of a child
Study materials and the blood of a child are pictured on a road leading to a primary school in Lingshan county, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous region, September 26, 2014. A man stabbed four primary school children to death on Friday in the southern Chinese region of Guangxi, state media said, the latest in a series of knife attacks that have unnerved the country. Reuters/Stringer

A 35-year-old man was arrested by police late Tuesday night for allegedly murdering his 63-year-old mother and his nephew, who was 8 years old. The bodies were found outside a house in north-west Sydney, and the suspect, found nearby shirtless and armed with a knife, was taken to Blacktown police station.

He was charged with two murder charges and assaulting police on Wednesday, a NSW police spokeperson said, and has been denied bail. He will be presented at the Blacktown Local Court later the same day.

Police received a call at around 11:00 pm from a neighbour at Kennedy Parade at Lalor Park, who reported that a man with a knife was chasing and threatening an old woman around a front yard. Police and paramedics arrived at the scene to find the suspect’s mother’s body lying on the front lawn, and the body of his nephew on the lawn of a neighbouring home. The killed woman is believed to be the custodian of the boy.

Forensic experts specified that both bodies had stab cuts and wounds along with other injuries. The older victim was hit hard with a large object and then stabbed, Nine’s Today Show reported. The act was reportedly witnessed by three children, including the deceased boy’s young sister.

The man, who has a history of using the drug"ice", was recently released from a rehabilitation centre, police stated. Neighbours of the family believed that the brutality involved in the murder case was because of the ice scourge in the area. “Every night, everywhere you go, there’s ice everywhere,” one of the neighbours told Nine, as quoted by News.com.au.

One of the neighbours said that he had heard the boy screaming at night but did not take it seriously. “In this neighbourhood, kids mucking about isn’t unheard of. It’s generally a pretty fine area,” the source shared, as reported by ABC News .

Forensic experts are still investigating the tragedy. Meanwhile, Blacktown police officers will work with detectives from the homicide squad to solve the case.

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