A man who stabbed a stranger to death because his electric bike had been scratched lived in a pigpen for 10 days during the four months that he was on the run.

The suspect, surnamed Deng, killed the man with a knife during a row that had broken out over a small scratch he had discovered on his bike.

The fight took place in a vegetable market in Changsha, capital of Hunan province, on Dec 9, 2010.

The man ran away to Foshan city, in South China's Guangdong province, where he lived in small dark hotels and found he often could not fall asleep at night, as he recalled after he was arrested.

He returned home on May 13 and began hiding in a pigpen. In the end, he heeded advice from his parents and surrendered himself to police.

He said: "I felt very sorry for the victim's family and for my family."

(Changsha Evening News)