A MAN told how he didn’t murder his mum – but was forced to kill her by a ruthless gang.

Emmanuel Kalejaiye, 21, claims he was ordered to stab her at the home they shared in Wethersfield Way, Wickford.

Kalejaiye told Chelmsford Crown Court how he saw his mother Tolu, 44, in the living room practising her singing for the church choir the night before her death.

He said he was later woken up by noises and told the jury: “I heard my mother screaming. I thought my mum was being attacked.”

He said he could not find his phone so he went to a knife block he had bought as he was planning to move out.

He added: “I took out the biggest knife.

“I intended to protect my mum and there were two men wearing masks, they looked like balaclavas.

“They disarmed me and put me down on the floor and tied my arms behind my back. They sealed my mouth and put a black bag over my head and took me downstairs.

“They untied me and put something in my hand and got me down on my knees and said ‘stab your mother’.”

Kalejaiye said he had assumed the item in his hand was a knife.

He added: “I tried to resist but they pulled up my arm and pushed it forwards into something. At the time I could not work out what this was.”

He also claims he was made to write down a “murder plan” by the gang of five masked men.

After this, Kalejaiye said he was taken back upstairs, the bag was removed from his head and he washed his hands which had blood on them.

Kalejaiye said he was then taken downstairs again to the dining room.

He said: “They started asking questions and it was clear they had been watching us. They were wearing balaclavas, black tops and black trousers and there were five of them. Two of them could have been white.”

Kalejaiye said a notebook was then produced and he was told: “We’re going to say some stuff to you and you must write it down.”

He said: “They told me if I didn’t do what they said, they would kill me. I was scared for my life.”

Kalejaiye also said the gang found a bag containing a pair of pink jogging bottoms and a pink hooded top he had bought from Primark.

Earlier, the jury heard how the items were bought as a “joke” as his mum had told him his appearance would improve if he wore bright clothing.

He said: “They ordered me to put them on.”

Kalejaiye said he was later ordered to move his mother's car to make it look as if she had gone to work.

At the time, he was still wearing the pink clothing and his mother’s pink flip-flops.

A post-mortem revealed she had been stabbed more than 40 times.

Kalejaiye denies murdering his mother on September 26 last year.

The trial continues.