The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) says it will oppose the bail application of Dr Nandipha Magudumana and two of her co-accused.
Magudumana, her father Zolile Sekeleni, former G4S prison warden Senohe Matsoara and former CCTV technician Teboho Lipholo appeared in the Bloemfontein magistrate’s court yesterday on Monday.
Sekeleni was granted R10,000 bail.
Free State NPA spokesperson Phaladi Shuping: “The state decided not to oppose the bail application of accused number two [Sekeleni] and he was granted bail. In respect of the other accused, all parties will be available on the 3rd and 4th of May and the state will be opposing the bail of the other three accused. “We normally wait for the bail application and present reasons then.”
He said the state did not oppose Sekeleni’s bail application because of his deteriorating healthcondition. “The health of the old man, currently he is on medication, and it is not in the best interests of justice for us to oppose bail,” said Shuping.
Magudumana is facing charges of murder, aiding and abetting an escape from jail, violation of corpses bodies and fraud.
During court proceedings, state prosecutor Sello Matlhoko requested the court to order Magudumana to remove her N95 mask and her hoodie to reveal her face. “The court itself must be satisfied with the identity [of the accused]. We might find that’s not the [right] person. But the court needs to be satisfied that it is indeed the person being charged,” said Matlhoko.
Magudumana then briefly revealed her face and confirmed she was present.
Magudumana fled the country along with her murderer and rapist lover Thabo Bester in March after news broke that he had faked his death in from prison in May last year.
They were arrested, along with Mozambican national Zacharia Alberto, by Tanzanian police two weeks ago.
Magudumana was found in possession of several passports and none of them were stamped to show that she had left SA through the right border channels.
Authorities said they were about 10km from the Kenyan border when they were apprehended, which made them believe that they had intendedwanted to leave Tanzania.
Magudumana and Bester abandoned their Hyde Park, Johannesburg, rented home in March.
In March, Sowetan revealed how a wooden kist believed to have been carrying a body was driven into Mangaung Correctional Centre, which is managed by G4S, hours before a fire broke out in cell 35 where Bester was housed.
Authorities have confirmed this.
Sowetan understands that when the 1.3m-long piece of furniture was offloaded around 5pm on May 2, it was carried to the prison’s woodwork shop under the pretence that it was to be repaired.
The fire broke out on May 3 and DNA tests proved that the charred body was already dead when the fire started and that it was not Bester’s.
kokam@sowetan.co.za
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