Nonchalance in police investigation has been alleged as the caused the death of of 23-year-old female student of Institute of health Technology of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Miss Precious Ikpihumi.

Precious who hail from Owan East Local Government Area of the State was allegedly strangled to death and dumped in an uncompleted building in Agbon Street, behind St. Patrick Catholic church, Ugbowo in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State.

The lover, John Aipoh was said to have strangled her to death for breaking up her relationship with him on May 1, 2022, according to the deceased family who accused police of failing to investigate the threat to her life complaint which she had just lodged with the law enforcement agency.

Addressing journalists during a protest march in Benin City, elder brother of the deceased, Mr. Frank Ikpihumi, accused police authorities of not documenting a case of alleged threat to life earlier lodged at the SCID by Precious Ikpihumi against her ex-lover, Aipoh (now in police net).

The victim’s elder brother said the family engaged in the protest following unconfirmed report that police have concluded plans to release the murder suspect on bail.

He stated that if the complaint had been recorded and investigated, it would probably have saved her life.

According to him, “My late sister alleged that, he (John) had threatened to kill her while the case was reported at the SCID, according to my late sister. The person (personnel) that he brought the complaint to at the SCID, didn’t treat the matter well.

“They (police) didn’t document the case. The officer only called them and settle the matter. He didn’t not make John to sign an undertaken shortly before the last Easter Celebration”, Mr. Ikpihumi said.

He further explained that the suspect fled to his Country home at Agebode in Etsako East Local Government of the State after killing precious.

Continuing, Mr. Ikpihumi said police operatives however tracked the mobile phone of the suspect and apprehended him.

He revealed that the suspect who started dating her sister when she was 18, had denied involvement in her sudden disappearance until police arrested one of his accomplices who was in possession of his late sister’s mobile phone.

Ikpihumi, a graduate of Federal Polytechnic also alleged that further interrogation of the suspect to lead police operatives to the crime scene where he dumped the remains of the year three student’s corpse.

The spokesman of Ikpihumi who faulted claims that the suspected murderer killed his sister for attempting to jilt him after seeing her through school, clarified that, the ex-lover had sometimes squatted with his sister (Precious) who also looked after him.

Ikpihumi, recalled that on the day the suspected murderer was lured to come to Benin and join her family member to search for the whereabouts of Precious, he withdrew the sum of N6, 000 from her Bank account via online transfer, which he spent for his fares to Benin City.

He said, “They were actually dating. Along the line, she told her fiancé that she is fed up with the relationship.

“So, the guy told her that if he does not marry him, nobody else will marry her. it eventually turned out to become murder. Unfortunately, he carried out his threat.

“After killing her, he hid her body at an uncompleted building in a bush. It took us three weeks before we were able to arrest him. He thereafter confessed to crime and show the police where he kept her body.

“We have heard that the family of the suspected murderer wants to bail him from police custody. They want to close the case”, he said.

Continuing, the brother of the deceased said, the boy did not see my sister through school. It is a lie. “Information I gathered revealed that the boy use to come to my sister’s house to eat. He was not financially buoyant.

“The day, I invited him to Benin to start assist me to look for my sister whom we thought had gone missing, he could not get money to transport himself from his Village to Benin.

“He (John) had to do N6,000 cash transfer from my sister’s account because he had access to her mobile phone to get a vehicle from Agbede to Benin here.

“They started dating in 2018 and the family members in Auchi. The girl was staying with me then while I was a student of the Federal Polytechnic, Auchi. I told her to be wary of the boy. I had also called the young man not to distract her education…But the girl and the boy did not heed my advice.

“My sister had complained that she didn’t like the way the guy was maltreating her and that she was fed up.

“She had also sent a WhatsApp voice recorded audio to the public that it better to have a broken relationship than a broken marriage. And added that was the reason she was ending the relationship”.

But the Commissioner of police in Edo State, CP Abutu Yaro, sued for calm, assuring that necessary action will be taken to ensure that Justice is served.

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