Edo man who killed girlfriend for calling off relationship exposed by voice note deceased sent to her friend

A 27-year-old man, John Aipoh, has been arrested in Benin City, Edo State, for allegedly killing his 24-year-old lover, Precious Ikpikhumi, after she called off their four-year relationship.

Precious, a final year student of the Institute of Health Technology, University of Benin Teaching Hospital, was declared missing by her family on May 1 after she went to church and failed to return.

A breakthrough came for the policemen investigating the crime when the friend of the deceased stepped forward with a voice note sent to her days earlier by the deceased, expressing fears that her ex-boyfriend might kill her for calling off the relationship.

She said in the voice note: “What I want to let you know is that it is not those two boys that are making me to do all these things. It has been long I have been telling John. John said I cannot tell him that I am tired of the relationship as he was the one who approached me and he is the one who can decide when it will end. I told him even if you force me to date you, hope you know you cannot force me to marry you. It is better we have a broken relationship now than a broken marriage.

“I can’t please. I cannot die. If it happens that truly he harms me or kills because I refused to continue dating him, I know it shall never be well with him. My blood will always cry over his head.

“I have made up my mind. If (it) is that I will die in this relationship, a fly that fails to hear word is one that follows the corpse into the grave. Since I don’t listen anything John does to me I will bear it.”

The police picked up that angle and pursued it. They arrested John, who confessed to having ambushed Precious while she was on her way to church on May 1. He told the investigators he took her to an uncompleted building where he murdered her, and then disappeared to an unknown destination.

It was later learnt that Precious and John had been at loggerheads over some issues. The deceased called off the relationship and went underground to avoid being attacked by her ex-lover. Unfortunately, John found out where she was hiding and laid ambush for her.

On May 1st, 2022, he struck as the lady was going to church. He dragged her to an uncompleted building and killed her by using her scarf to strangle her. He then escaped to an unknown destination.

He has since taken the police to the uncompleted building where he dumped Precious’s lifeless body.

When he was searched, the deceased’s phones were found with him. He said he killed Precious in anger after she called off their 4-year relationship.

Precious’s body has been deposited in the morgue while the suspect is now in police custody and will be charged to court as soon as possible.