Magudumana was arrested in Tanzania with the Facebook rapist and murder convict Thabo Bester in the middle of April.

This after she allegedly aided and abetted Bester to escape from Mangaung Correctional Centre under guard of the British company G4S on 3 May 2022.

She is alleged to have claimed the body of Katlego Bereng from the mortuary of the National Hospital in Bloemfontein to be used as decoy in cell 35 at the Broadway block of cells, after it was burnt beyond recognition.

Magudumana was captured in Tanzania with Bester who was on the run from law enforcement agencies. They were brought back to the country in the early hours of the morning of 13 April 2023.

She made her first court appearance at the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court, facing charges of aiding and abetting, fraud, arson, defeating the ends of justice, and violating a corpse.

She has since taken the matter of her arrest to the Free State High Court. She claims her detention is unlawful and unconstitutional.

In her court documents, Magudumana requests that her matter be heard on an urgent basis. Through her legal representatives, Adv. Machini Motloung and Adv. Frans Dlamini, she argues she was abducted and her arrest is unlawful.

She earlier reserved her right to apply for bail and requested to appear alongside her boyfriend on 16 May 2023. But her plans were dealt a blow when state prosecutor, Sell Matlhoko, requested that the appearance of Bester be virtually held, which ended up happening in that manner. Both Bester and Dr Magudumana ended up appearing virtually from their places of incarceration on 16 May.

Their cases were postponed to 20 June 2023.

During his first court appearance on April 2023 at the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court, Bester, through his previous lawyer Marvin Carpede, informed Magistrate Mohlolo Khabisi that Bester did not agree with the identity numbers on his passport.

Last week, his new legal representative, Adv. Jeremiah Pela, also told the court that there is a Home Affairs death certificate for Bester. On 3 May 2023, Bester carried out a plan with G4S officials to fake his suicide inside cell 35, while he would walk out of G4S prison dressed as an employee, alongside an Integriton official and now a suspect in his escape case, Teboho James Lipholo.

So far eight people have been arrested for the alleged Bester escape. Seven employees were suspended from the company following Bester's escape. It's understood that 23 officials were on duty during the escape.

They were charged with aiding and abetting a prisoner to escape, arson, fraud, defeating the ends of justice, and violating a corpse.

The co-accused include accused 1 Senohe Matsoara, accused 2 Zolile Sekeleni, accused 3 Lipholo, accused 4 Magudumana, accused 5 Bester, accused 6 Motanyane John (Buti) Masukela, accused 7 Teiho Frans Makhotsa, and accused 8 Nastassja Jansen.

Only 5 of them have applied for bail at the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court and the proceedings of the bail hearing have been postponed to Tuesday 23 May 2023.

OFM News