By Lesedi Sibiya-Diplomatic Insider 

Apartheid-era former Police Officer Johan Marais was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for the brutal murder of Anti-Apartheid student activist Caiphus Nyoka in 1987. His co-accused Leon Louis Van den Berg, Abram Hercules Engelbrecht and Pieter Egbert Stander will have their trial separately at the Benoni Magistrate’s Court from 8-19 September. 

Nyoka was killed in his home in Daveyton, Gauteng during a raid in his backroom on the 24th of August 1987. Nyoka had sustained 12 gunshot wounds in his head, chest and hands. Marais had pleaded guilty to the murder in November 2024 as he claimed that he acted out of an unlawful order; he confessed to the murder to a journalist in 2019.

 Judge Mokhine Mosopa carried out the sentencing on Thursday who had gone through the evidence of witnesses for the defence who testified as part of mitigating factors in his sentencing. The judge said the witness told the court that Marais had been experiencing spouts of depression and had attempted suicide on seperate different occasions which was in part due to Nyoka’s death.

 “The accused was admitted into a psychiatric ward, where he was seen by a psychiatrist, psychologist and social worker but was discharged without a diagnosis.” said the Judge during court proceedings. 

Masopa has noted through evidence, that Marais had felt deep remorse over murdering the deceased stating; “He feels differently now and if he could go back in time, he will never do it. He believed the deceased at the time was a terrorist.” 

Judge Masopa also made mention that the witness stated that Marais is a first time offender and did not have a prior conviction as part of a mitigating factor in regards to his sentencing. Witnesses had also noted that if Marais was placed under correctional supervision, he would be strictly monitored for the duration of his sentence and would be obliged to perform community service. 

 “After the evidence of the two witnesses, the accused then handed in a letter he had wrote to the family of the deceased asking for forgiveness for his actions, dated 13 January 2025, which was admitted into evidence” said Judge Masopa.

 Algeria Nyoka, the brother of the deceased had stated that her brother’s body had been taken without the family’s knowledge after he was murdered; “They only saw a pool of blood on the bed he was sleeping on and they only saw that the next morning.” noted Judge Masopa. 

The judge had later come to the conclusion that Marais was not a suitable candidate for correctional supervision; “The sentence must fit the criminal and the crime” said Masopa. Marais has declined to testify against his co-accused in their upcoming trial and has mentioned that he wanted to use the time after his sentencing to write a novel of his crime. The judge had hoped that Marais would opt to use the time instead to reflect on his crime as well as reconsider testifying against his co-conspirators. 

“Judge Mosopa found that Marais did not fully take the court into his confidence and that his expression of remorse was unconvincing. The finding was informed by the fact that Marais had many opportunities to come forward with the truth over the passed three decades; prior to his conviction he never approached the Nyoka family to apologise for the harm that he caused; and he refused to cooperate with the State by giving evidence in the trial of his co-accused” via a statement made by the Nyoka Family through the Foundation for Human Rights and Webber Wentzel Public Interest Law Department.