By Marcus Moloko
Former riot police Abraham Engelbrecht (61) and former Benoni Security Branch member Pieter Stander (60) were found guilty of the murder of student activist Caiphus Nyoka, while their co-accused Leon van den Berg, was acquitted.
Nyoka, who was a member of the Congress of South African Students (COSAS), was killed in his home in Daveyton in 1987.
The Gauteng High Court found Engelbrecht and Stander guilty of their role in the killing, ruling that the evidence against them was sufficient to secure a conviction.
Van den Berg, under whose command the raid was devised, was cleared of all charges due to insufficient evidence directly linking him to the crime.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), at around 02h30 on 24 August 1987, Stander, Engelbrecht and other members of the Reaction Unit arrived at Nyoka’s homestead and stormed his room.
They found him sleeping alongside three friends.
After identifying him, they removed the friends from the room and then shot him nine times.
He died at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds.
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