Nandipha Magudumana appearing virtually from Kroonstad Prison with Magistrate Mohlolo Khabisi sitting in the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court on Tuesday. Image: Becker Semela/GroundUp.
Dr Nandipha to appeal Bloemfontein High Court judgement
Dr Nandipha Magudumana plans to appeal the dismissal of her urgent application to declare her arrest in Tanzania illegal.
Nandipha Magudumana appearing virtually from Kroonstad Prison with Magistrate Mohlolo Khabisi sitting in the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court on Tuesday. Image: Becker Semela/GroundUp.
Dr Nandipha Magudumana, the lover and alleged accomplice of the serial rapist and murderer Thabo Bester, intends to appeal the judgement that dismissed her urgent application to declare her arrest in Tanzania illegal.
MAGUDUMANA’S APPLICATION DISMISSED
Bester escaped from prison after faking his death in May 2022. He and Magudumana fled the country in April 2023 once the authorities launched a manhunt.
The duo was arrested in Arusha, Tanzania and was swiftly returned to South Africa, where they were arrested and have appeared in court multiple times.
READ: Nandipha Magudumana’s arrest challenge dismissed
Magudumana alleged South African police in Tanzania abducted her and contended that since her arrest was unlawful, the criminal proceedings against her in the Bester escape case were null and void, and she should be released from the Bizzah Makhate Correctional Centre in Kroonstad where she is held.
She is accused of fraud, defeating the ends of justice, violating a body, aiding and abetting an inmate to escape from lawful custody, corruption and arson.
READ: Investigator in Thabo Bester escape case allegedly dies by suicide
APPEAL LOADING
According to SABC News, Machini Motloung, Magudumana’s lawyer, said they would be appealing Judge Philip Loubser’s judgment in the Bloemfontein High Court. Loubser dismissed the urgent application with costs—a pricey defeat.
According to the judgement, when the appellant was handed over to the Department of Home Affairs officials, she offered no resistance and reportedly told everyone that she wanted to return to South Africa for her children.
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“We will be filing an application for leave to appeal this judgment, this has been confirmed. I will take it that this is an argument that is settled. All that the judge then had concerns with is the issue of consent, that she consented to an illegal act, and in our view, we will take exception to that conclusion, hence our view that the decision by the Free State High Court in this particular instance is appealable,” said Motloung to the public broadcaster.
Loubser found that Maguduman’s “deportation” from Tanzania was disguised as extradition. However, he ruled against her because she willingly left the country.
Dr Nandipha is due back in court on 25 June as one of the eight accused persons in the Bester escape case. She is yet to apply for bail.
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