Family gets closure 15 years after cyclist was murdered

Fifteen years after the brutal murder and torture of former South African cycling champion Etienne van Wyk, justice was served in the Nelspruit Regional Court yesterday.

The sentence and conviction of Van Wyk’s killer has been considered a massive victory for his family, the Mbombela community and the investigators who worked around the clock for over a decade to ensure the man responsible for the heinous murder will spend the next 25 years of his life behind bars.  Ronnie Mafika Nkosi (44) was 29 at the time he murdered Van Wyk, who was also 29 when his life was cut short by the cold-blooded killer.

Nkosi stood in the Nelspruit Regional Court 1 on Wednesday June 8 where the court’s presiding officer, Sheila Msibi, handed down a five-year sentence for housebreaking and a 20-year sentence for murder. The sentences will run cumulatively.  Van Wyk was tortured to death in Sputnik Street in Steiltes on January 30, 2007.

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According to former spokesperson for the the local police, Dawie Pretorius, Van Wyk’s domestic worker and gardener grew suspicious when he did not open the gate the following morning.  One of his employees at the time, Denise Rabie, later discovered his body in the dining room.

He had multiple wounds to his body and head, and had allegedly been strangled. No valuables were reported stolen.  It was 13 years after his murder,
that a single fingerprint found on the kitchen wall of his home led members of the serious and organised crime unit at the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), and the police, to Nkosi in Elukwatini on November 12, 2020.

When handing down the sentence, Msibi said Nkosi had shown no remorse and considering the brutality and violence of the crime, she would sentence him to 20 years for the murder.  “Van Wyk was a young man in the prime of his life with a business that contributed to the local economy and employed several people,”
she said.

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“The photographic evidence presented in court speaks volumes, as well as evidence from the district surgeon. The deceased had multiple lacerations, and was assaulted many times until he succumbed to the injuries. He died a brutal death in the safety of his home,” Msibi said.

Van Wyk’s youngest sister, Karen Van Wyk, said the family were overwhelmed with mixed emotions of happiness, relief and sadness following the news of Nkosi’s sentencing. “The case opened up old wounds, but we are very happy and relieved it is over and that justice was served,” she said.

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