From left: Senohe Matsoara, Teboho Lipholo, Nandipha Magudumana, Motenyani Masukela, Tieho Makhotsa, and Nastassja Jansen. Image: Becker Semela/GroundUp.
Bail day: Thabo Bester’s co-accused return to court for application
Six suspects accused of helping convicted serial rapist and murderer Thabo Bester escape prison will apply for bail on Thursday.
From left: Senohe Matsoara, Teboho Lipholo, Nandipha Magudumana, Motenyani Masukela, Tieho Makhotsa, and Nastassja Jansen. Image: Becker Semela/GroundUp.
The bail hearing of six suspects who allegedly helped convicted serial rapist and murderer Thabo Bester escape from prison in May 2022 is expected to take place in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Thursday and Friday, 11 and 12 May.
READ: Bester’s escape: A look at the charges against the eight suspects
READ: Bester escape case: Judge sets new date for bail application – accused remain in custody
Six to apply for Bail in Bester escape case
The bail application for four of the accused was meant to take place on Wednesday, 3 May, but the matter was postponed because two dismissed former G4S employees, Tieho Frans Makhotsa and Natassja Jansen, were arrested that week and added to the case.
G4S managed the Mangaung Correctional Centre (MCC) Bester escaped from last year. Four of the eight bail applicants on Thursday will be former employees of the company – Senohe Matsoara, Motenyane Masukela, Makhotsa and Jansen.
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The two other accused are Dr Nandipha Magudumana, who is Bester’s lover, and Teboho Lipholo, a former Integriton camera technician.
Magudumana’s father, Zolile Cornelius Sikelele, was also arrested in connection with the matter, but he was granted R10 000 bail weeks ago. He is due back in court on the same day Bester is meant to return, 16 May.
The accused face charges of fraud, violating a body, arson, harbouring and concealing an escaped offender and defeating the ends of justice.
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Murder charge dropped
During the last court appearance, it emerged that the State had dropped the murder charge for the death of Katlego Mpholo – the Bloemfontein man’s body was found in Bester’s prison cell and had been set alight.
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As previously reported, NPA spokesperson in the Free State Phaladi Shuping said that at this early stage, prosecutors could only bring charges based on the evidence presented by investigators.
“The current investigation reveals that there was a post-mortem report that was performed on the body of the unidentified deceased person [Bereng] found in cell 35 at Mangaung Correctional Centre, and the cause of death was registered as unnatural death,” said Shuping.
READ: Murder charges in Thabo Bester case withdrawn after presentation of new evidence
