The convicted men, 64-year-old former Sergeant Abraham Hercules Engelbrecht and 62-year-old ex-Sergeant Pieter Stander, appeared in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg. Picture: NPA. Two former apartheid-era police officers convicted of the 1987 murder of anti-apartheid activist Caiphus Nyoka will spend Christmas behind bars as the State seeks life imprisonment for the men.
The Gauteng High Court found Engelbrecht and Stander guiltylast week. Following their conviction, the two applied for bail pending sentencing. In affidavits before the court, they claimed to suffer from various health conditions and stated that they are financial providers for their families.
The State opposed their release on bail, arguing that both men were convicted of a serious offence, they pose a flight risk, particularly Stander, who has previously worked outside South Africa and failed to fully disclose potential assets abroad, despite having worked in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2015. During court proceedings, both men were told they would remain in custody for the rest of 2025 after Judge Mohamed Ismail remanded them and reserved judgment on their bail application until next year. State prosecutor Advocate Daniel Mogotsi argued for life imprisonment for Engelbrecht and Standers for the murder of Nyoka.
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“This was a premeditated and preplanned murder, so I’m going to ask for life imprisonment. If there was something more, I was going to ask for more. The manner in which a defenceless man was murdered, I’m going to argue for life.” Mogotsi stressed that Stander is a flight risk and questioned whether he should be released on bail due to ill-defined health complications.
“It’s amazing this issue of health and age only comes into the picture now that he’s been arrested. All along, he’s been so active in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now that he has been arrested, he says I’m sick and must be outside. These are some of the things he has not told the court.”
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