Accused relaxed in court
Judge starts 800-page judgment against alleged gang leader George Thomas
THE FIVE- year murder and organised crime trial against one of Cape Town’s alleged most notorious gang leaders and his 18 co-accused is slowly drawing to a close.
Yesterday, Western Cape High Court Judge Chantal Fortuin began reading her 800- page judgment against George “Geweld” Thomas – the alleged leader of the 28s in Cape Town and his co-accused.
Thomas and some of his co-accused face more than 160 charges including murder, conspiracy to commit murder, possession of illegal firearms and extortion. Among the murder charges against Thomas and the coaccused relate to the murder of six State witnesses. More than 10 other witnesses and their families have been reportedly put in witness protection for their safety.
A heavy police contingent was deployed in the courtroom yesterday and throughout the trial as a precautionary measure. A police officer told the Cape Argus the officers feared that one of the accused could smuggle in knives and drugs.
Thomas appeared relaxed and conversations were shared among the accused before court was in session. Some technical difficulties delayed the proceedings for about five minutes yesterday, but the accused remained calm until it resumed.
During the judgment, Judge Fortuin read out the charges against the accused as well as a summary of the trial which started in 2010.
The prosecution alleges that Thomas had either carried out or ordered the majority of the killings which included shootings of rival gang members, revenge killings as well as intimidation of witnesses.
The crimes were committed between 1999 and 2010, and in 2012 the National Prosecution Authority confirmed that 12 people linked to the case, including the six State witnesses, had been murdered to allegedly silence them.
Witnesses were not the only ones that were negatively affected by the trial as prosecutors also hired bodyguards to protect them.
Thomas and his co-accused waved and blew kisses to family members in the gallery as court adjourned for lunch but many of them declined to comment.
Judge Fortuin is expected to continue her judgment over the next two weeks.
WITNESSES WERE NOT THE ONLY ONES THAT WERE NEGATIVELY AFFECTED BY THE TRIAL... PROSECUTORS ALSO HIRED BODYGUARDS