In jail: Thabo Bester. Picture: Screengrab
The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) has turned down Facebook rapist Thabo Bester's request to have access to a laptop or smart tablet.
The department has further rubbished Bester’s claims of being put in solitary confinement and having no access to his legal team.
"In respect of the electronic gadgets/equipment, Thabo Bester’s request cannot be accepted. That request will pose a security risk to the centre and might enable him to orchestrate another escape," DCS spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said.
Nxumalo also denied Bester's allegations that he was subjected to inhumane conditions at the Kgosi Mampuru II prison where he remains in custody.
"C-Max, at Kgosi Mampuru, is a high security facility. It comprises only of single cells. Hence, all inmates in the facility do not share a cell. Therefore, the impression created by Thabo Bester that he is in a single cell, as a form of solitary confinement, is, with respect, disingenuous," Nxumalo said.
He added that Bester's claims about not being able to contact his people via the prison's telephones were untrue.
"Thabo Bester and other inmates in C-Max are also afforded a reasonable opportunity to have telephonic contact with and to be visited by their families when such visits are properly arranged with the centre.”
In a two-page complaint filed in court Bester claimed he was being treated unfairly.
Meanwhile, the trial against Bester and his co-accused has been set down for May next year.
Bester faces charges relating to his escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in May 2022. His co-accused allegedly helped him.
seanne.rall@iol.co.za