A young man, Mr. Lawrence Ette, has been accused of
stoning his 23-year-old girlfriend, Miss Rosaline Christopher, to death.
The tragedy was said to have occurred
penultimate Sunday at 13, Academy Street, Calabar, Cross River State.
An eyewitness, who is the landlady of
the deceased, Miss Dorothy Bassey, said Rosaline had a brawl with her
boyfriend, before he allegedly killed her.
Bassey said Rosaline, who lived with
her aged mother and siblings, had been in a relationship with Ette for a while.
She said because of the frosty
relationship between the lovers in recent time, Rosaline’s mother stopped Ette
from visiting her daughter.
“But even with the instruction from
the old woman, Ette kept sneaking in to see the girl particularly at night,”
she added.
It was learnt that during one of such
visits penultimate Sunday, there was a misunderstanding between the lovers,
which prompted the girl to ask Ette to leave.
Bassey said, “Rosaline did not know
that Ette took her phone away. After some time, her younger sister, Nne, wanted
to use the phone only for her to find out that the phone was missing.
“That was when she discovered that
Ette had gone with the phone. Nne decided to go and look for Ette so that she
can get her sister’s phone.
“But while Nne took the main exit and
headed for Target Street, Ette sneaked into the house through the back door
from Webber Street and Nne missed him.”
It was gathered that when Ette
returned to the house, an argument ensued between the lovers resulting in a fight.
“She did not scream while they were
struggling because she wanted to send him away quietly without attracting her
mother’s attention but that was her mistake as Ette stepped out of the room,
got a stone and hit her with it,” the landlady said.
She said when he realised that the
girl was dead; Ette allegedly attempted to dispose of the body by throwing it
over the fence.
Bassey said, “He carried her on his
shoulder towards the backyard and was trying to throw the body over the fence.
When the girl’s mother heard a strange noise at the backyard, she asked Nne to
find out what it was.
“But when Nne got to the backyard,
she saw Ette carrying her sister on his shoulder. Immediately he sensed that he
had been sighted, he abandoned the corpse and fled.
“Since it was dark, a neighbour
brought out a torch and during a search, Rosaline’s corpse was found inside the
gutter.”
PUNCH Metro learnt that her corpse
had been taken to the mortuary at the General Hospital, Calabar.
One of Ette’s neighbours at 10, Anating Street, Calabar,
who craved anonymity, said the suspect “hurriedly came here and packed some
clothes into a bag and left and has since not been seen.”
When contacted, the Police Public
Relations Officer in the state, Mr. John Umoh, said the matter which was
reported at Atakpa Police Station was being handled by the homicide unit of the
police.
“It will not be long before we get
him, the advisable thing for him to do is to come out of hiding now,” the PPRO
said.