By: Natasha Archary
Dr Nandipha Magudumana spent her birthday in court, in chains as her bail application continued at the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court, on Monday, 04 September.
On 30 August, the doctor’s bail application was denied as the State believed that Magudumana would evade justice if she was released.
The aesthetics practitioner who is accused of being convicted rapist and murder, Thabo Bester’s accomplice, told the court she can afford to pay R10 000 bail, claiming she was held against her will by the fugitive.
Bester escaped from the privately owned, Mangaung Correctional Center in May 2022, and was spotted shopping in Sandton City along with Magudumana.
While Magudumana’s legal team portrayed her as a loving mother, and wife, with a reputable career that she “desperately wants to get back to”, the State argues that she abandoned her children, and eloped with another man.
Facing a slew of charges, including fraud, violating a body, corruption, defeating the ends of justice, habouring and concealing an escaped prisoner, amongst others, Magudumana looked solemnly on, as the State prosecutor defended the decision to deny her bail.
Magudumana’s attorney, Machini Motloung, told the court the State had failed to provide sufficient reasons that she is a flight risk, and should therefore not be granted bail.
Motloung argues that Magudumana was “forced” into the vehicle by Bester when they fled the country to Tanzania, claiming the convicted felon had kidnapped her.
This is the same man that Magudumana had held hands with when they were reunited in court on 08 August.
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