Pretoria – Convicted murder and rapist Thabo Bester, who escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Centre (MCC), is expected to appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
Bester and his fugitive girlfriend Nandipha Magudumana returned to South Africa via a chartered flight from Tanzania on the early hours of Thursday morning.
They had been arrested in Arusha, Tanzania, last Friday by authorities in that country.
In a short text, national police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe confirmed Bester would be appearing in court on Friday.
His appearance comes a day after Magudumana, made her first appearance in the same court flanked by heavily armed police on Thursday. She is charged with murder, fraud, aiding and abetting, violation of a dead body and defeating the ends of justice.
The pair landed at Lanseria Airport, north of Joburg on Thursday morning.
Bester was placed in a police nyala and taken to Kgosi Mampuru Central Maximum Correctional facility while Magudumana was transported to the Free State to appear in court.
In court, Magudumana appeared wearing a face mask and a green Nike jacket with a hoodie which she used to cover half of her face.
She faces a number of charges, including multiple charges of murder, aiding and abetting an escape, violation of bodies and fraud.
She appeared alongside her co-accused, Integritron CCTV technician Tebogo James Lipholo, who is accused of tampering with CCTV cameras on the night Bester escaped.
Lipholo was a former employee of Integriton, the company hired by G4S to maintain cameras at the Bloem prison.
Magistrate Motlholo Khabisi adjourned the proceedings and remanded the case until next week Monday for Magudumana and Lipholo’s bail application.
On Monday, Magudumana will appear alongside her father Zolile Sekeleni and G4S security employee Senohe Matsoara, who are also accused of allegedly assisting Bester in his brazen walk out of prison.
IOL