Former apartheid police officer Johan Marais has been sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment by the Pretoria high court for the 1987 murder of student activist Caiphus Nyoka.
Maris had pleaded guilty and was convicted of premeditated murder.
In his sentencing, judge Papi Mosopa agreed with the state that Marais lacked genuine remorse, and wrote to the Nyoka family only as a mitigating factor.
At the time of his death, Nyoka was also a member of the Congress of South African Students (Cosas), the organiser for the South African Youth Congress (Sayco) on the East Rand and the president of the student representative council (SRC) at Mabuya High School. He was fiercely opposed to apartheid policies and challenged them publicly.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Marais and some of the members of the security branch and other units within the South African Police met to discuss a plan to kill Nyoka, on the evening of August 23 1987.
“A plan to raid his home was devised under the then commanding officer, Maj Leon Louis van den Berg, who is also charged separately,” said NPA spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana.
“In the early hours of August 24 1987 at about 2.30am, Marais, together with Sgt Pieter Stander, Sgt Abram Hercules Engelbrecht and other members of the reaction unit who are also charged separately, arrived at Nyoka’s homestead and stormed Nyoka's room. They found him sleeping with three of his friends. After identifying him, they removed the friends from the room and proceeded to shoot him nine times.”
Mahanjana said Nyoka died on the scene.
During the sentencing arguments, Marais told the court that he committed the offence 37 years ago under the instructions of the apartheid regime, further asking the court for a sentence of correctional supervision because of his age, medical condition and that he showed remorse for his actions.
However, Mahanjana said the team of prosecutors — advocates Esther Dlelwani Kabini, Daniel Desi Mogotsi and Vhulahani Nesengani Davhana — asked the court to impose a stringent sentence and argued that Marais, together with his co-perpetrators who are still standing trial for the same matter at the Pretoria high court sitting in Benoni, committed a planned brutal killing of Nyoka.
“They targeted him, isolated him from the friends he was with and killed him execution style while half-naked, sleeping in his bed. Furthermore, the team argued that the fact that Marais pleaded guilty does not show true remorse because even after 37 years, he still has not apologised to the family,” she said.
The NPA has welcomed the sentence, stating that the sentence was significant and impactful, not only for the state and society, but most importantly for the victims' families to finally find closure.
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