Doctor Nandipha Magudumana's bail appeal application over her arrest in the Thabo Bester prison escape case was dismissed in the High Court in Bloemfontein on Tuesday.
This comes after Magudumana’s legal representative approached the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to challenge the outcome of the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court which denied her bail.
The SCA then referred the matter to the high court where it was heard.
The high court judge found that the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court was correct in denying her bail.
The judge reiterated that Magudumana was the main role-player in the escape of Bester.
Bester faked his death at the Mangaung Correctional Centre and escaped in May 2022.
During her bail application in September, the court had found her to be a flight risk and said she had demonstrated she had the “necessary means” and “know-how to leave the country” after she was arrested in Tanzania in the company of her lover, convicted rapist and murderer, Bester.
The court held that Magudumana was the main role-player in Bester’s escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre and thus if she was released could access resources to attempt to have him break out again as he would be transported to and from court from prison.
The magistrate stated Magudumana, although she claimed she was taken across borders against her will by Bester, has the knowledge of fleeing without being flagged, as she and Bester managed to convince everyone to work with them and pass several border posts.
Earlier, in June, Magudumana failed in her attempt to be released from prison after the Bloemfontein High Court dismissed her application to declare her arrest and apprehension in Tanzania unconstitutional and unlawful.
Magudumana is facing multiple charges of fraud, violating a body, corruption, arson, assisting an inmate to escape, harbouring and concealing an escaped prisoner, and defeating the ends of justice.
IOL