George Louw Thorpe

George Thorpe (1973 - 1997)

Brief overview:

George (24), and his brother, Johannes Jacob Thorpe (21), were shot dead after witnessing an armed robbery, and the murder of Goodboy Loeto (55), a government employee, in Seodin, outside Kuruman, on 4th June 1997.

The young men were selling meat in the area that day.

Goodboy was shot dead during an armed robbery. Eight robbers made off with about R450,000 of pension money, when he didn't want to hand over the keys of his vehicle.

The only reason why the brothers were shot is because they might have been able to identify the robbers, the judge said in his ruling.

Brief Biography:

• Other Victims/Family
• Funeral/Memorial
• The Street/Suburb
• The Region (Land disputes, other incidents etc.)

Attack Details:

• Date and time of attack
• Weapons
• Items Stolen
• Investigative officer/SAPS Case No:
• Torture, Gratuitous violence
• Indications of Hate Crime? Threats etc.

Perpetrator details:

• Number and Descriptions
• Arrests
• Name/s and age/s of Perpetrator/s
• Country of origin of Perpetrator/s
• Trial/Conviction
  • The eight accused appeared in court in September 1998. Judge H.N. Hendler, who imposed sentences of a total of around 300 years on the accused, said in the sentencing that he also saw very little remorse in court.
  • Hendler sentenced Petros Mothebe (28) to two life sentences for the murders of the brothers, 25 years for the murder of Loeto and ten years for the robbery.
  • Innocent Manamela (23) and Solomon Mpoae (25) were each sentenced to 50 years effective imprisonment and Tocky Kole (24) and Lazarus Butshingi (21) to 45 years.
  • Percy Chepapa (32) was sentenced to 60 years effective imprisonment. He was the main shooter.
  • Teko Machogo (36) and Tebogo Nakane (34) were each sentenced to 25 years in prison.
  • Capt. J. C. Scholtz (31) and Sgt. Ockert Jansen van Niewenhuizen (26) from the unit for serious violent crime in Potchefstroom, literally worked day and night and drove up to 3000km a week to arrest all the culprits. Scholtz said that a total of R197 000 of the stolen R450,000 was recovered by the police.
  • After the sentencing, George and Johannes father, Samuel 'Sampie' Thorpe (62), said nothing would bring his sons back, not even the death penalty. However, he was full of praise for the hard work the two detectives did to finally get all eight accused behind bars.

Additional Biographical Information:

• Identity Number : 7206275069082
• Official cause of death : Unnatural causes

Links to Media articles:

• https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000188935459851
• Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: Nov 16 2022, 4:25:07 UTC
• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: May 13 2023, 14:45:20 UTC