Africa-Press – South-Africa. The magistrate in the criminal trial of Dr Nandipha Magudumana has denied her bail, stating that “granting you bail will enable you to facilitate another escape”.
Magudumana, who is alleged to have helped in the prison escape her boyfriend, rapist and murderer Thabo Bester, was caught with him in Tanzania.
She faces charges of fraud, corruption, violating a corpse, defeating the ends of justice, and aiding and abetting a prisoner escape from prison.
She and Bester allegedly enlisted the help of prison officials to help in his escape.
During her bail application, Magudumana claimed that Bester had threatened her and taken her to Tanzania against her will.
However, on Monday in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court, Magistrate Estelle de Lange said Magudumana was the central player in facilitating Bester’s escape from the G4S-run Mangaung correctional facility last May.
She denied her bail, saying Magudumana could assist with another escape for Bester if she was out of prison.
“Mr Bester will still travel to and from court, and the applicant [Magudumana] will have access to people who would facilitate another escape,” De Lange said.
The magistrate also pointed out that Magudumana had been the central roleplayer in Bester’s prison escape, as she was the one who had claimed the bodies they were planning to use as decoys in Bester’s fake suicide and escape.
The magistrate said:
While Bester was initially believed to be the one who had died in a fire that broke out in his cell, DNA tests later revealed that the body was that of Bereng.
De Lange said that, although Magudumana had demonstrated to the court that she had strong ties in the country, the State has proved that it had a strong case against her, and if convicted, she might face a long prison sentence.
She added that the court believed that no bail condition would be enough to ensure that Magudumana stood trial.
Although Magudumana had handed in her passport, nothing would stop her from skipping the country, as she had already demonstrated that she could leave without a passport, the magistrate said.
“The court finds that no bail conditions would make her stand trial. When she was arrested, she was found with her passport, which had no record of her leaving the country, even though she went through three border posts.”
Magudumana bowed and shook her head in disagreement as the magistrate went through the State’s damning evidence against her.
Sitting in the public gallery, her brother was the only family member to attend court.
As Magudumana went down to the holding cells, he held her hand and told her to be strong.
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