Dr Nandipha Magudumana threw her lover Thabo Bester under the bus, claiming that he forced her to flee the country. Picture: Timothy Bernard, African News Agency (ANA)
SOUTH Africans are eagerly waiting to see if disgraced medical doctor Nandipha Magudumana will be denied or granted bail on Monday following her revelations during her hearing this week.
Magudumana appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday and Wednesday this week for her bail application related to her alleged role in the escape of convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester from Mangaung Correctional Centre.
However, she shook the country when she threw Bester under the bus. She told the court that she had been forced to flee South Africa under pressure and threats from Bester, who was sentenced for murder and rape.
She said she was instructed and commanded by Bester to enter a vehicle and drive to an unknown location on March 17, 2023.
This was her second attempt to secure bail after her legal team halted her bail application in May.
The revelations, mentioned in her affidavit, came as a shock to many, especially because the love birds held hands, smiled at each other and chatted in the dock last week after they met in the court for the first time since their arrest four months ago.
Bester also leaned on her shoulder before asking if she was ‘okay’.
Magudumana, who faces charges related to Bester’s escape from the Mangaung prison in May 2022, was arrested in Tanzania alongside his lover on April 7, 2023.
She has been in custody at the Bizzah Makhate prison in Kroonstad since April 13.
Asked if she stood a chance of being granted bail following her revelations, law expert Nthabiseng Dubazana said the picture of this week’s drama with Bester might count against Magudumana in the ruling on Monday.
Dubazana said the court also looks at the demeanour of the accused when ruling in criminal matters.
“Over and above that, she mentioned in her affidavit the matter that is currently sitting in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), and in that application she failed to mention that she was in Tanzania against her will. She instead said that her return was illegal. This will also count against her,” Dubazana said.
She further said: “When applying for bail under schedule 5 the onus is on you as the applicant to show that it is in the interest of justice that (you) be released on bail. Based on her affidavit and the argument her counsel is delivering, she is attempting to shift the onus from her to the State.”
Another law expert, Paul Hoffman, said the court would not grant her bail if it considers that there is a reasonable prospect of the accused leaving the country as she has done before.
“The evidence that she was forced to leave appears to be tailored to suit the requirements for granting bail. Much will turn on the court’s assessment of the reliability of that evidence,” Hoffman said.
After an almost two-hour delay on Tuesday, a tearful Magudumana kept her head down while her lawyer read out her application.
She told the court that she was earning R50,000 a month at the time of her arrest and that she had assets worth R1 million. Magudumana said she could afford bail of R10,000.
She also told the court that she had resided in Bedfordview with her estranged husband and children before relocating to Hyde Park in the past two years.
Magudumana said that she was still married but separated from her husband and that she had full parental rights over her two children, an 11-year-old and a six-year-old.
She told the court that she should be granted bail. She said she intended to plead not guilty to the charges against her which include assisting an escape from custody, violating a body and fraud.
Magudumana said she had no interest in leaving the country and had no travel documents as her passport is still in the police’s possession.
She added that she intended to stay with a friend in Sandton, in Johannesburg, if released on bail. She submitted a supporting affidavit from her friend to confirm this.
However, the State in opposing her application revealed that Magudumana also faces at least six criminal cases brought against her by members of the public. The cases relate to fraud of between R150,000 and R15 million.
Inspecting officer Lieutenant-Colonel Tieho Flyman said, in his reply affidavit, that Magudumana had a substantial incentive to evade her trial.
Flyman said in addition to the long-term imprisonment she is facing for escape charges she also faces at least six criminal cases brought against her by members of the public.
He also indicated that she was a flight risk, saying she had fled the country with Bester in March. Flyman also revealed that Magudumana’s children and her husband had not visited her prison since her arrest.
He said phone records from prison show that she had only called her husband once.
The argument was supposed to resume on Wednesday but it was postponed until Monday after State prosecutor Sello Matlhoko said his heads of arguments needed to address the issues raised about the schedule of the bail application.
This came after defence advocate Frans Dlamini said the State had not provided evidence that Magudumana’s bid for bail is a Schedule 5 application. Dlamini argued that Magudumana is facing a Schedule 1 rather than a Schedule 5 offence.
Magudumana’s bail application came months after nine of her co-accused were granted bail. Bester and accused number 9 abandoned their bail applications.