Cape Town - The legal representative for two of the men convicted in Cape Town’s biggest gang trial on Monday argued against the imposition of life sentences, asking the Western Cape High Court to take into consideration the difficult upbringing and personal circumstances of the men.
This was said by Advocate Emile de Villiers during closing remarks by the defence in the trial of alleged 28s gang boss George “Geweld” Thomas and 16 others, which continued in the Western Cape High Court on Monday.
The 17 men who were convicted on over 150 charges ranging from murder, to attempted murder, racketeering, illegal possession of firearms and ammunition and gang offences earlier this month, began filing into the courtroom just before 11am on Monday with 49-year-old Thomas taking an opportunity to page through a newspaper before proceedings began.
Thomas was convicted on 53 charges including seven murders and three attempted murders.
Starting the closing remarks, De Villiers requested the court not impose life imprisonment for a murder conviction for accused Peter McNeil and Derrick Claasen.
McNeil and Claasen, accused numbers four and five, were convicted on charges of murder, attempted murder, illegal possession of a firearm, illegal possession of ammunition, and gang offences.
De Villiers requested that the court defer from the prescribed sentence of life imprisonment on the charge of murder.
De Villiers detailed McNeil, Claasen, and accused number 13 Howard Jansen’s lives before being arrested in 2008. The men have been in custody ever since.
He told the court of the socioeconomic circumstances in which the accused had found themselves prior to their arrest.
McNeil, according to De Villiers’s closing remarks, had only finished Grade 9 and attended church. Claasen had also ended his schooling career early due to financial difficulty and had immediately entered the workforce. Claasen, he said, spent some time working at a fruit stall and was a member of a local New Apostolic church.
The matter continues.
ANA