by ‘Jola Sotubo

The residents of Igbogene village in Bayelsa were left in shock after a young girl murdered another this week.

An unidentified 9-year-old girl is said to have stabbed a child of 5 after the duo had a disagreement.

The older child is now being held at the Akenfa Police Station in Yenagoa, the state capital.

Nigerian Eye reports:

The reasons for the killing are still sketchy, however, sources from the area gave two different versions.

The first version, according to a source who craved anonymity, was that the suspect was under witchcraft attack.

He said, “The suspect is possessed. She is under witchcraft attack. Imagine a very small girl using knife to attack a playmate. The two children were playing when disagreement occured. The nine-year-old, just went for a knife and stabbed the five-year-old three times.

“When the suspect noticed her victim was bleeding profusely, she attempted to run. Unknown to her that some residents had heard when the small girl was crying for help. They quickly ran to the scene to see if the five year old could be revived. On getting there, the poor girl had died.”

It was learnt that the residents attempted to also kill the nine-year old but the timely intervention of the policemen at Igbogene police station saved the situation.

The nine-year old girl was said to have been whisked away by some residents who were averse to jungle justice.

Still, it was further learnt that some aggrieved residents had constituted themselves into a mob and headed straight for the station where the suspect was taken to for safety.

An eyewitness, who gave his name only as Ebitimi, said the aggrieved residents thronged the station demanding the suspect’s release to them but the police refused.

The development was said to have created tension in the area until a reinforcement headed by the Divisional Police Officer of Akenfa Police Division in Yenagoa stormed the police station, dispersed the rampaging residents and rescued the suspect.

A ranking police officer at Akenfa Division, who did not want his name in print because he was not authorised to speak to the press, said the suspect had already been brought to the division.

When our correspondent visited the division, he sighted the suspect in the office of the Investigating Police Officer.

However, the IPO did not allow our correspondent to interview the suspect to ascertain the cause of the murder.

Yet another version indicated that the murder was as a result of quarrel between the suspect and the deceased.

It was gathered that the suspect and the deceased were playing until they started to quarrel.

It was also gathered that the deceased was allegedly taunting the suspect, who became uncontrollably angry and used a knife they were playing with to stab the victim (the deceased).

Spokesman for the Bayelsa State Police Command, Mr. Alex Akhigbe, confirmed the incident.

When asked what could have led to the murder, the Police PRO simply said “they were quarelling”.

However, Akhigbe said, “The matter is under investigation. I am aware of the murder though I have not got brief from the DPO.”