A 14-YEAR-OLD boy in southern Russia has been charged with killing his father with a sledgehammer after his parents tried to stop him from playing computer games.

The unnamed boy in the coastal town of Tuapse, located by the Black Sea in Russia's southern Krasnodar region, bludgeoned his father to death while he lay sleeping, regional investigators said.

"At around 1am (local time) on April 12, the suspect dealt his sleeping father at least two blows on the head with a sledgehammer," the region's investigative committee said.

"The man died on the spot from a head injury.

A spokeswoman said the parents had taken away the keyboard as a disciplinary measure after he spent a week playing computer games.

After the killing, the boy's frightened mother gave him the keyboard back and the boy played computer games for several more hours until he fell asleep, the spokeswoman said.

At that point, the mother, who was not injured, contacted relatives who in turn called police.

The boy, who has no criminal record, is now being held in pre-trial detention.

At 14, he is old enough to be charged with murder under Russian law.