Thabo Bester: Magudumana bail application postponed over new evidence
The celebrity doctor and others are accused of helping convicted rapist and murder Thabo Bester escape from prison last year
The hearing on the bail application of celebrity doctor and businesswoman Nandipha Magudumana, who faces charges related to her alleged role in the escape of murderer and rapist Thabo Bester, has been postponed to 16 May.
Magudumana’s lawyer, Frans Dlamini, asked that the matter be postponed to next week after new evidence emerged.
Dlamini reiterated that Magudumana was not abandoning bail but asked for it to be reserved. He said the defence had been ready to start with bail proceedings last week but, “after extensive consultation, it emerged that there is material evidence which is very crucial to accused number four’s matter”.
Magudumana appeared in the Bloemfontein magistrate’s court on Thursday with five other people accused over Bester’s prison escape. They included four former employees at multinational security company G4S — Motenyane Masukela, Senohe Matsoara, Tieho Makhotsa and Natasha Jansen, as well as James Lipholo, a camera technician.
The accused allegedly assisted Bester in a well-orchestrated plan to escape from the Mangaung maximum security prison in May last year. Almost a year after his escape, authorities arrested Bester and Magudumana in Tanzania. Several other related arrests followed, and police have not ruled out more.
Although the state indicated it was ready to proceed with bail, state prosecutor Sello Matlhoko supported Magudumana’s request for postponement. He said the accused’s second legal representative, Machini Motloung, had approached the state this morning with a request for information.
Magistrate Mohlolo Khabisi granted the postponement for bail until 16 May, when Bester will also be in court.
Magudumana faces multiple charges of fraud and corruption, as well as violating a corpse, harbouring and concealing an escaped offender and defeating the ends of justice. The state provisionally withdrew its charge of murder against her.
“Currently, there is insufficient evidence for the National Prosecuting Authority to pursue a charge of murder hence the NPA has taken a decision to provisionally withdraw the charge of murder pending further investigation,” the prosecuting body said in a statement last week.
On Thursday, the court ruled against requests from the media to broadcast the bail proceedings live.
During the bail applications, the media is not permitted to broadcast witness testimonies, the testimony of accused persons and the cross-examination that follows. A recording of the proceedings is allowed after the court sittings given that the identities of witnesses are protected.