By: Natasha Archary

A pretrial date has been set for South Africa’s “Bonnie and Clyde” couple, convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Magudumana.
Making their first appearance at the High Court in Bloemfontein on Wednesday, 21 February, the infamous couple who pulled off Bester’s brazen escape from the Mangaung Correctional Center in May 2022 did not exchange loving looks this time.
Instead, Dr Nandipha walked past her lover and co-accused without making eye contact and unlike the last time they were reunited in court, the pair did not sit next to each other.
Bester, Dr Nandipha and seven others, including the doctor’s father Zolile Cornelius Sekeleni will be back in court on 05 June 2024 for their pretrial.
Dr Nandipha, who is facing a slew of charges including tampering with dead bodies and assisting a convicted rapist and murderer from escaping lawful custody, claimed she was abducted/kidnapped by South African officials from Tanzania.
Bester escaped from the privately run Free State Correctional Center by faking his death in a fire that was set in his prison cell.
The body that was found in the Facebook rapist and murderer’s cell was that of 31-year old Katlego Bereng.
A few months after Bester escaped from the privately run Mangaung Correctional Center, he was spotted shopping with Dr Nandipha and her daughter in Sandton City.
The couple who enjoyed a number of romantic “prison getaways” while Bester was doing time in Mangaung, allegedly used a number of fake aliases, and are accused of orchestrating fake businesses to defraud people of millions.
Bester and Dr Nandipha were arrested in Tanzania in April 2023 after fleeing the country.
Also read: JMPD to heighten visibility on M1 following brazen robberies



