[2] Bosch was convicted for the murder of Maria Magdalene "Ria" Wolmarans, both members of the white expatriate community in Gaborone, in June 1996.

[5] Due to these two factors, the murder case received significant attention outside the country and was referred to as "Botswana's White Mischief".

Mariette Bosch was the daughter of an affluent liquor store owner in South Africa, and with her husband Justin had moved to Gaborone, the capital of neighbouring Botswana, due to the latter country's lower crime rate and a bustling economy.

[3] The Boschs settled in Phakalane, a neighbourhood in Gaborone that was popular with affluent White South African expatriates and often referred to as "Little Sandton".

[3][7] The Wolmarans had separated in 1993 but had moved back in together the following year, despite Tienie promising Bosch that he would divorce his wife.

[6] In June 1996, Bosch travelled to Pietersburg, South Africa, and received her father's pistol from one of her friends.

"[6] A psychiatrist, who served as the defense expert witness, argued that Bosch did not have the profile of a killer and was not capable of lying.

[6] On 13 December 1999,[9] Justice Isaac Aboagye of the Botswana High Court found Bosch guilty of Wolmarans' murder, and in February 2000 he sentenced her to death.

[6] A panel of judges from the Commonwealth of Nations served as a court of appeal,[3] and da Silva attempted to convince them that the Botswana government had not revealed, during the trial, that it had granted immunity to a suspect in exchange for testifying against Bosch.

[10] At that stage, the only possibility of Bosch being saved from execution would have been a pardon from Botswana President Festus Mogae.

[12] Up to the end, she insisted that she did not kill Ria Wolmarans, did not show remorse, and accused a third party of being the real culprit.

[14] On 2 April 2001 South African President Thabo Mbeki had been planning to launch a petition to get Bosch's death sentence overturned, not realizing that she had already been executed.

[11] Interights, a non-governmental organisation based in the United Kingdom, and some undisclosed parties had argued that the execution was unfair.