Sep 5, 2026 · 41 min · 14 segments
On a single night in 1990, three innocent people lost their lives to a crime spree by a 19-year-old soldier. When his past and the workings of his mind were examined, though, some would question…
Nicole EngelbrechtHostHis childhood was described as unhappy, but the details of that never rose to the level of mitigation in court, so little detail was provided.
That, of course, does not mean that an individual's experience of their own childhood was not impactful on them in some way.
We all view our own experiences through the lenses built by our nature and the nurturing we've been given.
What we do know is that by the time Peter was 18, he already had a significant criminal history.
He'd been convicted for five different offences, two which involved dishonesty or fraud, one for reckless driving, another for illegal possession of a firearm.
The fifth and most concerning was a culpable homicide conviction when he was a minor for having caused the death of someone in a car accident.
There's no mention of what sort of sentences he was given for these convictions.
Although one would think that by offense number five, during his teens, someone would have figured out that that was not working.
There were also facilities where minor offenders could serve out incarceration sentences during that time.
But even there, there was little focus on rehabilitation and more focus on
physical punishment.
The idea was that criminal behavior could be disciplined out of individuals, especially minors.
and they could be set on the right path simply by forcing them to comply through fear, violence, and physical discipline.
And while I was shocked at where life took Peter next, considering his history, perhaps it sort of fits with this idea that harsh discipline will fix everything.
Because by the time Peter Van Amaver was 19 years old, he was in the army.
despite having five criminal convictions and especially one where he'd illegally possessed a firearm, he was accepted into the South African Defence Force and given access to a gun.
Of course, at this time, there was compulsory military conscription for all white males in South Africa from the age of 18, sometimes even 16, depending on whether they were still in school or not.
Because the apartheid government was involved in the border war and simultaneously using the army to control black communities who were protesting their human rights being impeded upon, the SADF's requirement for numbers took precedence over almost everything.
And it's well documented that a criminal history did not deter them from conscripting a young man.
If the mind controlling that body had a few glitches along the way, they were willing to deal with that.
And, at least in this case, and I have no doubt in many others, giving an already prolific teenage offender a deadly weapon and literal training on how to kill would have deadly consequences for at least three innocent people.
Thankfully today, at least according to their publicly available recruitment policies, the now S.A.N.D.F. does not recruit individuals who have a criminal record.
His childhood was described as unhappy, but the details of that never rose to the level of mitigation in court, so little detail was provided.
That, of course, does not mean that an individual's experience of their own childhood was not impactful on them in some way.
We all view our own experiences through the lenses built by our nature and the nurturing we've been given.
What we do know is that by the time Peter was 18, he already had a significant criminal history.
He'd been convicted for five different offences, two which involved dishonesty or fraud, one for reckless driving, another for illegal possession of a firearm.
The fifth and most concerning was a culpable homicide conviction when he was a minor for having caused the death of someone in a car accident.
There's no mention of what sort of sentences he was given for these convictions.
Although one would think that by offense number five, during his teens, someone would have figured out that that was not working.
There were also facilities where minor offenders could serve out incarceration sentences during that time.
But even there, there was little focus on rehabilitation and more focus on
physical punishment.
The idea was that criminal behavior could be disciplined out of individuals, especially minors.
and they could be set on the right path simply by forcing them to comply through fear, violence, and physical discipline.
And while I was shocked at where life took Peter next, considering his history, perhaps it sort of fits with this idea that harsh discipline will fix everything.
Because by the time Peter Van Amaver was 19 years old, he was in the army.
despite having five criminal convictions and especially one where he'd illegally possessed a firearm, he was accepted into the South African Defence Force and given access to a gun.
Of course, at this time, there was compulsory military conscription for all white males in South Africa from the age of 18, sometimes even 16, depending on whether they were still in school or not.
Because the apartheid government was involved in the border war and simultaneously using the army to control black communities who were protesting their human rights being impeded upon, the SADF's requirement for numbers took precedence over almost everything.
And it's well documented that a criminal history did not deter them from conscripting a young man.
If the mind controlling that body had a few glitches along the way, they were willing to deal with that.
And, at least in this case, and I have no doubt in many others, giving an already prolific teenage offender a deadly weapon and literal training on how to kill would have deadly consequences for at least three innocent people.
Thankfully today, at least according to their publicly available recruitment policies, the now S.A.N.D.F. does not recruit individuals who have a criminal record.
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