By Staff Reporter
Two suspects, including the father of Dr. Nandipha Magudumana and a former G4S employee, have been charged with murder, arson, fraud, and defeating the ends of justice in connection with Thabo Bester’s escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in May 2022.
The charges of murder are related to the death of an unknown man who was murdered and placed in Cell 35 at the G4S prison facility in Bloemfontein.
The suspects were initially charged with aiding and abetting a convicted prisoner to escape from lawful custody, but the charges were increased after their first appearance at the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court.
The suspects will apply for bail on April 17, and Bester and his girlfriend, who were arrested in Tanzania, are expected to be deported to South Africa soon.
Bester had escaped from the prison facility after faking his own death, and it was later discovered that he, along with prison officials, had executed an elaborate jailbreak by swapping his body with another unknown person’s body in Cell 35.
The government has sent a delegation to Tanzania to bring the fugitives back to South Africa.
