CASE AGAINST MAGUDUMANA POSTPONED, SEKELENI GRANTED BAIL
The case against three accused allegedly involved in assisting Thabo Bester to escape from prison was postponed to 3 and 4 May for a formal bail application. Magistrate Mohlolo Khabisi postponed the case against Senohe Matsoara, Teboho Lipholo and Nandipha Magudumana for the accused to apply for bail.
They are facing charges of assisting an inmate to escape, defeating the ends of justice, fraud, violation of the body and arson. The charges relate to an incident that took place at Mangaung Correction Centre on 03 May 2022 when Thabo Bester, who was an inmate at the prison, was said to have burned to death in his cell.
The DNA was done on the body that was burned and it was found that it was not Bester. The post-mortem report recorded the cause of death as blunt force trauma and not smoke inhalation.
The fourth accused, Zolile Sekeleni, who is Nandipha’s father, was released on bail of R10 000 and conditions attached to his bail are that he must report at Port Edward Police Station once a week between 08h00 and 16h00, he must inform the investigating officer if he wants to leave the jurisdiction of Port Edward, he must not contact the state witnesses, directly or indirectly and he must not interfere with the investigations.
The charge of murder against Sekeleni was also reviewed based on new evidence that was brought to the prosecutor by the investigating team. He is now facing charges of assisting an inmate to escape, defeating the ends of justice and fraud. Sekeleni will be back in court on 16 May 2023 after his case was postponed for further investigations.
