SA’s ‘Facebook Rapist’ and murderer, Thabo Bester’s girlfriend Dr Nandipha Magudumana and her co-accused are applying for bail in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court.
africa
May 3, 2023
NCA
2 min read
Magudumana, co-accused in court for bail
Thabo Bester's girlfriend, Dr Nandipha Magudumana
Story highlights
State to oppose G4S guard bail in next court appearance
Correctional Services launces internal probe into Bester’s escape
The doctor, former G4S employees Senohe Matsoara and Tebogo James Lipholo allegedly assisted Bester escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in May last year.
Lipholo is the technician who oversaw CCTV cameras in the facility.
Magudumana faces charges of murder, violation of bodies, fraud and aiding and abetting.
Magudumela’s father Zolile Sekeleni has already been granted bail.
Bester and Magudumana fled South Africa when it emerged the body found in his cell was not his.
They used fake passports and were apprehended in Tanzania.
Meanwhile, the SA police ministry said that the two former G4S employees arrested I connection with the prison break worked at the facility’s control room centre.
The prison is managed on behalf of the government by private security firm, G4S.
So far, police have arrested eight people on suspicion of aiding Bester’s prison escape.
Six of the eight people are current and former employees of the private security firm, G4S.
Speaking on the sidelines of a crime imbizo in Port St Johns, Eastern Cape, SA Police Minister Bheki Cele said that more arrests were imminent.
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“It's going to be a long, white, cold season. We believe that we are still at the level where it cannot end on. These are former workers, though they have retired, they have been arrested.”
The two former G4S employees will make their first appearance at the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court on Wednesday, where they will face charges of assisting an inmate escape custody and defeating the ends of justice
The police ministry says it is close to finding the high-level people who helped Bester evade authorities for so long.
Cele said with every arrest, investigators were getting closer to uncovering the entire saga and everyone involved.
“We don’t want to push the team; we want them to find their way up to the level where we all believe that this thing originated here. We know it originated with Bester, but Bester could not have dealt with the small fish. At a certain given point, you’ll have to get sharks on the matter. - NCA
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