Nick du Toit

Nicolaas Servaas "Nick" du Toit is a former South African arms dealer, former mercenary and former army officer of 32 Battalion and the 5th Reconnaissance Commando. He was implicated in the plot to overthrow Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea.

He went on trial in Malabo along with 18 other men accused of being the advance party for 70 other mercenaries. The prosecution asked for the death penalty but when all were found guilty, jail sentences were handed out with du Toit receiving 34 years (to be served in Malabo's notorious Black Beach prison).

His job in the coup d'état was reportedly to supply the mercenaries with arms including AK47s, RPGs, PK machine guns, and mortars, and to secure the control tower at the Malabo airport and change the frequency to establish communication with the incoming plane from Zimbabwe carrying more mercenaries. After his capture, he appeared on South African television announcing the failure of the coup and the names of co-conspirators. Du Toit's wife has claimed her husband was tortured, including electric shocks and beatings.^{[citation needed]}

He was given a presidential pardon by Equatorial Guinea's ruler, President Obiang, on 3 November 2009, and was released, along with Sergio Fernando Patricio Cardoso, Jose Passocas Domingos and Georges Olympic Nunez Alerson. Simon Mann was also released and was back in England by 6 November 2009.

See also

• Simon Mann
• Mark Thatcher

External links

• "My Friend, the Mercenary From Hell" by Noah Shachtman, 25 April 2008
• BBC News article on the verdicts handed to the coup force, BBC Online, 26 November 2004
• "No 'buy recommendation' for a book about a former mercenary" by Dr. Alexander von Paleske, Nachrichten Heute, 2 August 2010
• "A Coup for a Mountain of Wonga"
• Boeremag brothers convicted in Pretoria, South Africa on charges of high treason, Silobreaker.com article on convictions of Andre and Mike du Toit, 27 July 2012
• Interview with Tracy McVeigh, The Observer online, 12 June 2010