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A 15-year-old schoolgirl has been charged with murder after she stabbed her three-year-old half-brother 28 times as he slept.

She then reportedly used the blood of the dead boy to write a message on the wall to her mother, as confirmed by police who refused to discuss what was written.

The girl, identified only by her first name Oliwia, was alone at home and had been asked to look after her younger brother Niko, three, by her mother.

The attack was so violent it left bloodstains on the wall of the house in which the two children lived with their single mother, who worked in Germany as a cleaner.

(Image: Newsflash)

The family was originally from the Polish city of Lodz and had moved to Detmold in Germany in 2013.

When the mother Agnieszka , 46, arrived home, the boy was dead, and the teenage girl had vanished.

The mother has been in psychiatric care since the tragedy, but had to leave to go back to work as she did not have any money, according to local reports.

She is still living in the flat where the boy was killed.

One of the mother's friends, said that her daughter had written to her mother.

The friend said: "It is a short letter, in which Oliwia writes that she feels terrible about what happened, and asks her mother if she wants to visit her in order to speak about everything."

The ex-boyfriend of the mother, identified as Dimitri, said: "Agnieszka and I had separated three months before, Oliwia was jealous of the little one, and felt left out."

Police started a search immediately after the killing including a helicopter search and then later released a picture of the teenager.

She was found some 10 kilometres from the scene of the killing.

A police officer arrested her, saying that she showed no sign of resistance and appeared calm.

German prosecutor's said the trial is likely to take place in mid-April, behind closed doors because of the age of the youngster.

The girl has reportedly not denied killing her brother and faces a maximum of 10 years in jail.