26-year-old man stabbed his 18-year-old girlfriend in a hotel room in Yenagoa, capital of Bayelsa State, and took to his heels when the wailings of the victim, identified as Miss Faith Pius, attracted the attention of other guests who came to her rescue.
One of the guests in the hotel located at Biogbolo area of Yenagoa said on Monday that the suspect escaped from the guest house as the victim screamed and guests of the hotel and residents of the neighbourhood rushed to the guest house.
According to the source, who wishes to remain anonymous, the incident happened last Friday night.
It was gathered that Miss Pius was taken to a private clinic where she was treated and the wounds stitched, but her situation developed complications on Saturday and she died on Sunday morning.
Mr Amba Asuquo, Commissioner of Police in Bayelsa, confirmed the incident. He said it was initially considered a case of assault caused by harm but it had become a matter of murder against the suspect since the victim died from the attack.
“Initially, it was treated purely as a case of assault occasioned by harm but now that the girl has died we are now treating a case of murder against one suspect. We are in the process of ensuring that the suspect is arrested because after committing the crime he ran away. I know some people are associating it to ritual purposes, but we cannot conclude,” he said.
Youths of Biogbolo community took to the streets to protest the death of the girl from knife cuts inflicted on her by the runaway lover boy.
The youths were said to have attacked shops and vandalised vehicles reportedly owned by the kinsmen of the lover boy along some streets in the area. It took the intervention of detachments of riot policemen to disperse the aggrieved youths.
The incident caused panic as residents run in different directions while operators of business outfits closed shop and fled.
Friends of the deceased had earlier protested Sunday morning, brandishing green leaves and condemning what they described as grave violence on the late Miss Faith.
Stephen Pius, an elder brother of the victim, alleged that the suspect cut his younger sister twice each in her stomach and her heart region.