Magudumana could evade justice, say crime experts
CRIME experts say Dr Nandipha Magudumana may evade justice if freed.
Magudumana, the girlfriend of rapist and killer Thabo Bester, is in the process of applying for bail.
She has been kept at a Kroonstad correctional facility since her arrest in April.
Appearing in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court yesterday, Magudumana claimed Bester kidnapped her out of South Africa.
Weeping, she declined to take the stand and exercised her right to remain silent, offering only an affidavitclaiming her lover, Bester, forced her into a vehicle before they escaped the country by vehicle.
She plans to plead not guilty. She stated she could afford bail of R10 000 and would stay with a close friend. However, the state is opposing her bail, saying she is facing fraud cases amounting to millions against her.
Magudumana’s kidnapping claim is in sharp contrast to the display of affection was seen in the dock earlier this month when the two met at the same court.
Chad Thomas, an organised and financial crime investigator from IRS Forensic Investigations, said in respect of this bail application, she was now alluding to the fact that she may have been taken out of the country against her will, which would be abduction; which means that when she was taken into custody by the SAPS working together with their Tanzanian counterparts, she would have obviously expressed a sense of relief. She would have been taken away from her abductor; she would have been saved or rescued in some manner.
“But instead, we saw the bizarre application she brought against both the SAPS and Tanzania authorities, stating that they in fact had kidnapped her; it seems that we have this kidnapping narrative playing out whenever it suits her.
“But one can’t escape the fact that what we saw in court very recently with her and Bester was very much a so-called Romeo and Juliet starcrossed lovers situation, where they were sitting there, making eyes at one another. And I do believe that this is just another manner in which she’s tried to obtain bail, and of course, she’s trying to pervert the course of justice,” Thomas said.
“This lady has left the country; she has been part of an organised crime structure that put together a daring and audacious plan to assist in the escape of somebody from a maximum security prison. So I do agree with the State’s contention that she could evade arrest; she knows how to leave the country; she presents a massive risk,” Thomas said.
This was Magudumana’s first time applying for bail; on other occasions, she has opted not to.
She also had a matter at the Free State High Court where she wanted the court to declare her arrest in Tanzania unlawful. She claimed that South African authorities abducted her but the matter was dismissed with costs.
The pair were seized in Arusha, Tanzania, in April this year while escaping from south Africa, following news reports that Bester made a daring escape from the Mangaung Correctional Facility, which is run by G4S security company.
Investigating officer Lieutenant-colonel Tieho Flyman, who is attached to the Free State Organised Crime Unit in Bloemfontein, said Magudumana had been a mastermind, alongside Bester, in the conspiracy to aid Bester’s escape. He said they were both signatories for multiple rented properties and acted in unison.
Other accused in the Bester saga are former G4S prison warder Senohe Matsoara, Zanda Moyo, Zolile Cornelius Sekeleni, former Integritron Integrated Solutions camera technician Teboho Lipholo, suspended G4S employee Tieho Frans Makhotsa, former G4S guard Buti Masukela, suspended G4S employee Natassja Jansen, and G4S employees Joel Makhetha, Moeketsi Ramolula and Thabang Mier, who were granted bail of R10 000.