Gangster ‘Geweld’ set to be sentenced for long string of offences
CONVICTED 28s gang boss George “Geweld” Thomas, who was nine when he was found guilty of housebreaking and theft, has 21 other convictions and has spent more than half his life in prison.
In a heavily guarded courtroom at the Western Cape High Court yesterday, sentencing procedures started after Thomas was found guilty last week of 53 charges, including seven murders, three attempted murders and 10 counts of incitement of others to commit crimes.
He stood in the dock with 16 others who who were also found guilty of scores of charges.
In aggravation of sentence, State prosecutor advocate Willie Viljoen read out Thomas’s extensive sheet of convictions.
With a criminal record dating back to 1975, Thomas, 49, yesterday agreed in court that he was a habitual criminal.
In 1975, when Thomas was nine years old, he was convicted of housebreaking and theft. A sentence was not passed, and Thomas was advised to stay out of trouble.
He continued committing offences and in 1981, when he was 15, he was referred to a reformatory school in Bishop Lavis. In that year, he was found guilty of robbery.
He went on the commit more than 20 crimes, all of which he was convicted for. They included murder, assault, theft, robbery and being in possession of drugs.
Thomas and his co-accused, tried under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, had faced 166 charges, including murder and racketeering.
The trial, which started in 2011, was the biggest case involving gangsters in the province, and the State had called more than 70 witnesses to testify.
Initially 19 people were on trial, but charges were dropped against Fred Williams after witnesses would not testify against him. One of the accused, Jason Stynder, was found not guilty.
It took Judge Chantal Fortuin two weeks to deliver her 800-page judgment. Sentencing procedures are expected to continue today.