Prison ordered for ex-boyfriend of WSU student killed in her home two years ago
Saying there was no evidence to support claims that military-induced PTSD was behind a beloved Wichita State student’s 2016 slaying, a judge on Thursday ordered the woman’s ex-beau to serve at least 28 1/2 years in prison.
“This isn’t about a soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. This is a case of a jilted boyfriend” who could not accept “that the person he wanted to be with didn’t want to be with him,” Sedgwick County Judge Kevin O’Connor said as he sentenced 29-year-old Dane Owens to life in prison plus 43 months for entering Rowena Irani’s north-side home unannounced and fatally shooting her on Oct. 3, 2016.
“Mr. Owens as a soldier was trained ... and knew what would happen when you pulled the trigger on a firearm,” O’Connor said, noting that Owens’ claim the gun discharge accidentally wasn’t consistent with physical facts of the case.
Jurors convicted Owens of first-degree felony murder and aggravated burglary in November.
“This is murder. And this was the taking of another person’s life,” the judge said. “A young person who had her whole life ahead of her.”
Irani, a 22-year-old junior majoring in psychology who worked with children in need at the Wichita Children’s Home, died at a Wichita hospital the day after she was shot. Prosecutors argued during Owens’ trial that he was angry because she broke off their two-month relationship. So he swallowed several Hydrocone pills and drove around for a while with his .45-caliber Smith and Wesson before parking his truck several houses away from Irani’s home. He walked up to the house with his loaded gun, went inside and shot her as she walked around a corner.
Owens’ defense attorney, Kurt Kerns, argued at trial that the shooting wasn’t intentional. Owens, a military veteran suffering from PTSD, told police he had the gun in his right hand which was in a sling and that Irani had “spooked” him, causing the gun to go off.
After he shot her, Owens took Irani’s cellphone and left her lying, alone and wounded, until her mother found her hours later.
“Her energy was so vibrant. Everyone who knew her just absolutely loved her,” Toranj Irani said in court Thursday, her voice filled with anger and tears.
She said her life hasn’t been the same since her daughter’s death.
“What did she do wrong? All she said was ‘I don’t want to be in a relationship with you.’”
Irani’s brother, Rooshad Irani, told the judge that Owens had been a friend of his who he’d known for five years and trusted to date his sister. She was a native of Pakistan who moved to Wichita with her family at age 10 and later became a U.S. citizen.
“She was the light of our lives,” Rooshad Irani said.
“I would gladly trade places with him (Owens) in prison for the rest of my life if it gave me my sister back and he was six feet in the ground in the grave.”
Dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit and handcuffs, Owens stood briefly to apologize to Rowena’s family before O’Connor ordered him to serve the life sentence. “Even though it might not be much. It’s all I have to offer,” he said quietly.
Owens’ life sentence carries parole eligibility after he serves 25 years. If he is granted parole, he’ll have to serve the additional 43 months before he can be released from prison.
This story was originally published December 20, 2018 at 11:04 AM.
