A 26-year-old man has reportedly stabbed his 18-year-old girlfriend in a hotel room in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
The man took to his heels when the wailing of the victim, identified as Faith Pius, attracted the attention of other guests in the guest house, who came to her rescue.
One of the guests told NAN that the suspect escaped when other guests and residents in the neighbourhood rushed to the scene.
The source, who pleaded anonymity, said the incident happened on Friday night.
It was gathered that Pius was rushed to a private clinic where she was treated and the wounds stitched.
The source said: “But she developed complications on Saturday and she died on Sunday morning.”
Bayelsa Police Commissioner, Amba Asuquo, who confirmed the incident, said it was first considered as a case of assault occasioned by harm.
Asuquo said: “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 killing but we cannot conclude.”
Youths of Biogbolo community, where the guest house is located, took to the streets to protest the death of the girl from knife cuts allegedly inflicted on her.
The youths were said to have attacked shops and vandalised vehicles reportedly owned by the kinsmen of the lover 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.
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.
