A former boxer who admits killing an alleged paedophile in St. Petersburg may have murder charges against him reduced by prosecutors.

Alexander Kuznetsov says he returned home on New Year’s Eve to find the man sexually assaulting his eight-year-old step son.

Kuznetsov says he dragged his step-son away and called police. But while he was waiting he took his rage out by inflicting several head wounds.

“I didn’t want to kill him. Blind rage just consumed everything – all the anger, the fury. When I calmed down, the police were here, and I was in cuffs,” Kuznetsov recalled.

The dead man was a 20-year-old man from Uzbekistan. According to Pavel Vymenets, the head of St. Petersburg Investigative Department, he was a student of one of St. Petersburg’s colleges, had no social life or criminal record.

“We’re initiating a criminal case for the infliction of serious injuries resulting in the death of a person. But in the future the charges may be softened under the Criminal Code,” Vymenets said.

The child is undergoing psychological examination and is unable to be questioned by police.

Aleksandr Kuznetsov is to undergo psychological tests.