By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
State prosecutor Sello Matlhoko told the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday that Dr Nandipha Magudumana is likely to attempt to evade trial, should she be granted bail.
The State is opposing Magadumana’s bid to be granted bail.
In July, the High Court dismissed her application for leave to appeal a ruling on her April arrest and deportation from Tanzania.
Matlhoko said Magudumana has everything to lose by staying in South Africa.
“Bail conditions will not prevent the applicant from fleeing the country. She evaded the police for 11 months. She fled the country and did not use her passport when she left the country. She has no respect for the law,” said Matlhoko.
Magudumana claims she was taken out of the country against her will following threats made against herm by convicted murderer Thabo Bester.
She broke down during her bail application.
“I have no previous convictions, and there are no pending criminal cases against me. On the 17th of March 2023, I was in the company of accused number five {Bester},” she told the court in an affidavit.
“I was instructed and commanded by accused number five {Bester} to get into a vehicle and leave the premises to a destination unknown to me at the time. I refused and wanted an explanation, but he forced me into a vehicle. I succumbed to the pressure due to the threats he directed to me. I was defenceless, helpless and with no one to report to at that time. I complied with his instructions and was taken out of the country against my will.”
Magudumana faces multiple charges of fraud and corruption, violating a corpse, harbouring and concealing an escaped offender, and defeating the ends of justice.
She is being kept at the Bizzah Makhete Correctional Centre in Kroonstad, near Bloemfontein.
Magudumana is among 12 suspects arrested for aiding Bester to escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in May 2022. Nine suspects, including accused 1, Senohe Matsoara, are out on R10 000 bail. It is only Magudumana, Bester, and an illegal immigrant from Zimbabwe Zando Moyo who remain in custody.
The bail argument will continue from 14:00. The prosecutor Matlhoko requested an adjournment from Magistrate Estelle de Lange after the defence introduced new information.
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