Nandipha Magudumana and her fugitive lover, Thabo Bester, were successfully deported to South Africa on Thursday, and hours later, the disgraced doctor is due to appear in Bloemfontein on several serious charges.
PICS: Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha unofficial mugshots released
Large crowds of journalists flocked to Lanseria Airport, where Bester and Magudumana were caught on camera as they were escorted to separate police vehicles.
Bester, a convicted serial murderer and rapist, was whisked away in a police ‘Nyala’, while his lover was transported in a van occupied by armed officers.
At a media briefing held in Cape Town on Thursday morning, Ministers Bheki Cele and Ronald Lamola confirmed the Facebook rapist was transferred to Kgosi Mampuru prison and kept under 24-hour surveillance, with highly trained officials on guard.
It remains unclear if Bester will face a new trial for a slew of crimes he committed in the process of and after his escape from Mangaung prison on 3 May 2022.
On the other hand, however, Dr Nandipha, who was processed and held at a station in Johannesburg and later transported to Bloemfontein, where she stands accused of violating several serious crimes, which include:
- murder;
- violating a dead body;
- fraud;
- aiding and abetting in Thabo Bester’s prison escape; and
- defeating the ends of justice.
Dr Nandipha had yet to appear in court at the time this article was published, albeit proceedings are expected to be brief since the disgraced doctor has yet to formally register her legal representatives, as well as the charges she faces.
Here’s a look at the fugitive couple’s unofficial mugshots taken by Tanzanian authorities before they were deported:
Thabo Bester
Dr Nandipha Magudumana
According to Cele, Dr Nandipha was cooperative, from the moment she was arrested by Tanzanian authorities, about 10km near the Kenyan border.
The same compliment was not paid to Bester, however. who, according to the police minister, was not compliant from the onset.
In fact, the minister told reporters, Tanzanian authorities were forced to send Bester’s fingerprints to South African authorities for verification before he could be registered as a captive under his name.
Bester and Dr Nandipha’s arrest on South African soil takes the suspect tally to five, after the disgraced doctor’s father, Zolile Sekeleni and two former G4S employees were nabbed in the past few days.
Police are also in the process of questioning a sixth person of interest in the Bester escape. However, at this juncture, they face no charges.