A security guard, identified as David Isaac, attached to St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Nkpor Uno in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State, has allegedly stabbed a yet-to-be-identified teenager and member of the church to death, The PUNCH reports.
It was gathered that the incident happened inside the church premises at about 8:00pm last Tuesday.
This was corroborated in a viral video that is currently circulating on social media, where a voice narrated how the incident happened and also blaming the church for employing the security guard.
Our correspondent, who visited the church on Tuesday, observed palpable silence on the premises as few parishioners were seen moving from one place to another.
A source in the church who craved anonymity told our correspondent that the security guard under the employ of a private security company, pierced a dagger through the neck of the victim during a scuffle and he was confirmed dead when he was rushed to a nearby hospital.
The source said: “Trouble started when the security guard was patrolling around the church premises, which is their routine exercise. In the process, he saw the victim with another girl inside the church’s chapel staying in a compromised situation.
“Although we were in the church auditorium when we started hearing some noise from the chapel corner, when we got there, we saw the boy in a pool of blood. When interrogated, the security guard said he caught the victim having sex with a girl inside the church chapel at about 8:00pm on that fateful day.
“The guard said he queried the boy as to why he was allegedly having intercourse inside a holy place like the Chapel, the victim denied having sex with the girl but insisted that he was only praying with the girl.
“When the guard insisted that he saw them having sex, the victim flayed up and engaged in a hot argument which headed to fisticuffs between the duo. It was at this point that the guard applied his dagger on the victim.”
Another resident, who also did not want her name on the print, said the victim bled to death while he was being rushed to the hospital.
She said: “This is such a sad incident because we did not expect such a thing to happen. I don’t know if the boy was a member of the church or not, but the girl is a member of the church and she has insisted they were praying in the chapel and not having sex.”
The Parish Priest of St Alphonsus Catholic Church, Rev. Fr. Peter Okoli, could not be reached when our correspondent visited, but a top official of the parish who pleaded anonymity because he was permitted to officially speak on the matter, confirmed that the suspect had been handed over to the police at the Ogidi Division for further investigations.
He added that the church had beefed up security within the premises since the incident occurred because friends and relations of the victim were threatening to burn down the chapel in protest.
When contacted, the Divisional Police Officer, at Ogidi Police Division, Frank Amobi, simply confirmed the incident and explained that the suspect was in their custody. He declined further details and referred our correspondent to the state police spokesman.
When also contacted, the state police spokesman, Tochukwu Ikenga, told our correspondent over the telephone that he had yet to get the detailed report of the incident, even as he promised to make the report available as soon as it was ready.
