Caiphus Nyoka murder trial: Investigator accused of misleading ex-apartheid officer into making statement
Leon van den Berg, Abram Engelbrecht and Pieter Stander have all been charged with 23-year-old Nyoka’s murder who was shot nine times at his home in Daveyton in 1987.
Three former police officers accused of the 1987 murder of student activist Caiphus Nyoka appeared in the Pretoria High Court sitting in Benoni on 14 May 2025. Abram Engelbrecht (63), Pieter Stander (62) & Leon van den Berg (75) are accused of shooting Nyoka in his Daveyton home nine times & torturing his three other comrades. Picture: Kgomotso Modise/EWN
JOHANNESBURG - The investigating officer in the case against three former apartheid police officers for the murder of student activist, Caiphus Nyoka, has been accused of misleading one of the accused for him to make a statement.
Lieutenant-Colonel Petrus Beukman was on the witness stand in the Pretoria High Court sitting in the Benoni Magistrates Court.
Seventy-five-year-old Leon van den Berg, 63-year-old Abram Engelbrecht, and 62-year-old Pieter Stander have all been charged with 23-year-old Nyoka’s murder who was shot nine times at his home in Daveyton in 1987.
3 former police officers accused of the 1987 murder of Student Activist Caiphus Nyoka(23) are back in court for trial.
— Kgomotso🌸 (@motso_modise) May 14, 2025
Abram Engelbrecht(63) Pieter Stander(62) & Leon Van den Berg(75) are accused of shooting Nyoka in his Daveyton home 9 times & torturing his 3 other comrades. pic.twitter.com/17f3iRdYac
His case is among those referred to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
When Nyoka was murdered, Van den Berg was a major-general, and he allegedly led the operation.
But in 2021, Van den Berg was on the other side of the law as a suspect for Nyoka’s murder.
His lawyer, Advocate Riaan Gissing, argued that when Beukman interviewed him, he did not explain his rights and he also misled him about whether he was a suspect.
After Beukman briefed him, Van den Berg then made a statement about what happened at 3am on 24 August 1987, when Nyoka was killed.
Van den Berg is not challenging the admissibility of the statement he made.