Dr. Nandipha Magudumana during her first court appearance. (Photo: Screenshot via Twitter)
The serial rapist and convicted murderer Thabo Bester’s girlfriend and fellow fugitive, Dr. Nandipha Magudumana, appeared upside down in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Thursday hours after the couple was extradited to South Africa.
Magudumana arrived in Gauteng early this morning after she and Bester were stopped and arrested almost a week ago in Tanzania near the border of Kenya.
Magudumana, a medical doctor, was meanwhile taken under police guard to Bloemfontein where she and another co-accused, Teboho Lipholo, briefly appeared in court this afternoon.
Magudumana was almost unrecognizable in the dock where she sat in a khaki green hooded top and wearing a face mask.
Lipholo, an employee of a company contracted to install and maintain cameras at Mangaung Maximum Security Prison, also sat upside down in the dock.
Lipholo was arrested on Tuesday for his alleged role in Bester’s escape from custody at the time. He is accused of assisting a convicted prisoner to escape from lawful custody, obstruction of justice and desecration of a corpse.
The case against Magudumana and Lipholo was adjourned until Monday. They are then expected to appear in court together with their other co-accused, including Magudumana’s father.
They are also expected to apply for bail.
Magudumana and Lipholo are still in the air.
Rhewal earlier reported that Bester has been held in the Kgosi Mampuru II maximum security prison since his extradition.
Makgothi Samuel Thobakgale, national commissioner of the Department of Correctional Services (DKD), said earlier that this prison was “the most suitable place for him to be”.
According to Thobakgale, Bester will be guarded 24 hours a day by highly trained officers to ensure that there are no breaches of security.
