Benson Keganne pulled the trigger of a pistol to kill Gloria Mahowe in the morning of Saturday March 10, 2001 - eight years ago - in a bush near Molapowabojang, little did he know that he was calling for an appointment with the hangman. The High Court has ruled that he killed the woman in cold-blood and he deserved to be hanged by the neck until he dies. He stood still with a blank facial expression as Justice David Newman delivered his ruling that he killed a "Good Samaritan" execution-style, shooting her in the rear of her neck leaving her in the bush to die.
Keganne, from Pitsane, and two South Africans from Madutle Village in the North West Province - Kagiso Sebi and Amos Moloi - were also facing charges of armed robbery with aggravating circumstances and the sentences will be read tomorrow. The men had pleaded guilty to all the charges. According to their testimony, the three spent the previous night drinking beer and smoking dagga at a bar in Madutle. In the early hours of Saturday morning, they decided to walk to Pitsane five kilometres away from where Keganne changed his clothes before they went to the bus stop. Their mission to Botswana was to come and rob people of their money, and they were armed with a pistol and a toy gun.They got a lift from Mahowe at around 7am and on the way they took her car over. Keganne then took to the steering wheel and they drove towards Molapowabojang where they drove into a bush. They told the court that on the way the deceased tried to escape, but they prevented her from doing so. When they arrived at a bush they looked for a rope to tie Mahowe to a tree so that they could go and rob more people. They found no rope and decided that they should kill her. Keganne took the woman and shot her in the neck from behind, "execution-style", Justice Newman repeated.He said that the two boys pulled the screaming woman under a tree and left her to die. They claimed that they wanted to shield her from the sun. After the murder, the three went to Mmathethe village where they robbed a couple of their money and jewellery at gunpoint before fleeing to South Africa with their loot. They dumped the stolen vehicle at the South African border with Botswana.The three, based their defence on the claim that they were drunk, which Justice Newman dismissed as 'hogwash'. He said that the three walked a long distance to Pitsane and they were aware of what was happening. He said Keganne drove carefully from the spot where they hijacked the car to the point where they killed Mahowe without causing any damage to the vehicle. He pointed out that the two South Africans were lying when they claimed that they pulled the dying woman under a tree for protection saying they did that to avoid her being seen by people. Justice Newman said the three committed the offence motivated by greed.He identified as extenuating circumstance the ages of Sebi and Moloi. They were 19-years-old, while Keganne was 26 at the time of the offence. He also found that the roles the two played were not as extreme as Keganne's although, there was no evidence that they were pressured into playing a role. Justice Newman said that there were other means the men could have used to disable the woman from disturbing them instead of taking her life. Apparently, the deceased knew Keganne very well.He reserved sentence for the two counts of armed robbery against Keganne. The judge said he would deliver the sentence together with those for the two men for murder, and two counts of armed robbery.
Meanwhile, outside court, Gloria's widower, Peter Mahowe, welcomed the sentence, but felt that the three should be forgiven and be slapped with a life sentence. He lamented that his in-laws accused him of having a role in the crime.
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