An Italian man who spent 24 years searching for his missing big brother is seriously ill in hospital after his long-lost sibling broke into his home and stabbed him in bed.
Martin Rabanser, 35, said he woke up to find his brother Ivo lunging at him repeatedly with a large hunting knife.
“After 24 years, Martin didn’t recognise his attacker and cried out: ‘Who are you? What do you want?’,” said his lawyer, Nicola Nettis. “Ivo replied: ‘I’m your brother — don’t you recognise me?’”
The bloody family reunion in Selva di val Gardena in the Italian Alps was the first contact between the brothers since Ivo, now 42, left home at 18 after the death of their father.
“One theory is that Ivo was angry about the terms of their inheritance from their father, which included the house Martin still lives in, and has been nurturing a grudge ever since,” said Nettis.
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“But most people handle this through lawyers — they don’t vanish for two decades then show up with a hunting knife,” he added.
After Ivo disappeared in 1997, his family issued appeals on Italian TV for him to return but were unable to trace him.
Police have now discovered that he was sleeping rough in Verona while working odd jobs and spending time reading in a local library where he built up an extensive knowledge of literature.
Recently, it is believed he arrived back in his home town on a bicycle and lived in nearby woods, secretly watching the house where his brother, now a ski resort employee, lived with his wife and nine-year-old son.
“He waited for night and broke in through the garage wearing camouflage and carrying at least two knives,” said Nettis. “He went to the bedroom and started stabbing his brother in the chest. He didn’t speak or make threats.”
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When Martin’s wife tried to intervene, Ivo squirted her in the face with pepper spray. She fled and called the police.
According to La Stampa, Ivo told police: “I felt a huge rage inside towards my brother but I didn’t want to kill him. I stayed alone with him while he was in agony on the bed and I could’ve finished him but instead I went to the kitchen, which is where the police found me.”
Nettis said Martin was stabbed in the lung but was now off the danger list. “Ivo may be playing it down but stabbing someone in the chest repeatedly is attempted murder. The mystery is why he did it.”