Apartheid era cop Joao Jan Rodrigues, accused of murdering Ahmed Timol, is expected to find out if he will get a stay of prosecution, as the South Gauteng High Court is expected to hand down judgment on Monday.

Previously, Rodrigues argued that he should benefit from the amnesty former president Nelson Mandela granted, or an agreement reached at the highest level of government, that politically motivated crimes preceding 1994 would not be prosecuted.

These submissions were made to the High Court as Rodrigues applied for a permanent stay of prosecution for his alleged involvement in the killing of anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol.

Rodrigues' Advocate, Jaap Cilliers, SC, also submitted that prosecution would infringe his right to dignity because he would be tried at the age of 80 for a crime that he allegedly committed almost 50 years ago.

The application was opposed by the State, believing that the accused should rather try and clear his name in a criminal trial. Rodrigues faces charges of murder and defeating the ends of justice.

Timol was arrested in 1971 at the age of 29 and taken to the 10th floor of John Vorster Square, now known as the Johannesburg police station. The police in the room with Timol at the time, which included Rodrigues, said the activist from Roodepoort threw himself out of the window.

In 2017, the National Prosecuting Authority held another inquest, which overturned the 1972 finding that he had died by suicide.

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