Global Courant 2023-04-14 02:14:59
If this were the plot of a movie, it would be too far-fetched to be believable. South African authorities have taken over management of a maximum security prison run by a British private security firm after a high-profile convicted murderer was accused of faking his own death in a fire and then escaped prison to live in the open. living with his celebrity doctor girlfriend.
Thabo Bester was deported to South Africa by Tanzanian authorities on Thursday after being arrested in the border town of Arusha after apparently fleeing the country, according to a press briefing by South Africa’s justice and police minister. This is because media reports raised questions about the prison fire where he allegedly died.
It’s a bizarre story that has embarrassed South Africa, exposed alleged loopholes in the management of a private prison and captivated the country with every blockbuster revelation.
The 35-year-old convicted murderer, along with his girlfriend Dr. Nandipha Magudumana and a Mozambican named Zakaria Alberto arrested. South African Police Minister Bheki Cele told reporters the trio had several passports, each unstamped and only 10 kilometers away from crossing into Kenya.
Bester was sent to Kgosi Mampuru Central Maximum Prison in Pretoria where he will be closely monitored. “We are monitoring him 24 hours a day. We are also in contact with him 24 hours a day with selected highly trained Correctional Services officers to ensure that whatever circumstances he is in, we are on call and we do not experienced some security breaches,” South Africa’s Department of Correctional Services (DCS) chief Makgothi Thobakgale told reporters in Cape Town.
Magudumana was also deported to Tanzania and named as an accomplice. She was arrested pending trial on Thursday, according to police, and will face charges of murder, fraud and complicity in his escape.
Magudumana’s 65-year-old father Zolile Cornelius Sekeleni and a former prison guard, Senohe Ishmael Matsoara, 38, were also arrested and charged with complicity in Bester’s escape. The two men were charged in a court in Bloemfontein on Tuesday with “defeating justice, fraud, murder and arson”. They have not pleaded and have not registered any lawyers. A judge ordered them to be held until their next trial on April 17.
‘A WELL CALCULATED AND ORGANIZED ESCAPE DEBACLE’
Bester was sentenced to life in prison in 2012 for the rape and murder of model Nomfundo Tyhulu.
A court had previously found him guilty of the rape and robbery of two other women whom he lured to his home on social media, with local media calling him “the Facebook rapist.”
It was initially reported that he had died in a prison fire last May. But in November, the official position of South African prison authorities that Bester had been found dead in his cell began to unravel after reports from local investigative agency GroundUp raised doubts.
Authorities later concluded that the burnt body found in his cell was not Bester and that the person had died before the fire started.
“A murder case is being investigated following the outcome of the DNA analysis which confirmed that the body of the deceased found (in the cell) was not Thabo Bester’s,” the police and the Ministry of Justice and Correctional Services said in a statement. a statement. joint statement on Saturday.
“The autopsy report further revealed that the decedent had died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head and was already dead prior to the arson incident,” it added.
The DCS said last month that Bester appeared to have run out of the facility in “a well-calculated and organized breakout debacle.” It temporarily took over management of the prison from the British company G4S and suspended three of its own officials.
“Deeply disturbing is the fact that on the day of the escape, a private vehicle was allowed into the facility without a gate pass, possibly with an unknown body on board that had been burned beyond recognition in cell 35. This talks to a facility that has compromised its security . system beyond any reasonable doubt,” the DCS said in a statement last month.
Three G4S officials were pressured by lawmakers on Wednesday to explain how Bester escaped from a maximum security prison they had described as “one of the safest in South Africa”. While denying any wrongdoing, they say three employees who were on duty have been fired and seven others are still suspended.
A 22-page report presented to the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services alongside the G4S officials’ action said an unauthorized phone and laptop were found in Bester’s cell after the fire. Bester’s application to be placed in solitary confinement because “his life was in danger” had been approved just three days before his escape, they said.
But many lawmakers were not pleased, accusing the company of dishonesty and failure to take responsibility for the prison break. “You are a private company in a public-private partnership with the dishonest state that came and deliberately misled the people’s parliament. What would your response be to that?” asked ruling party member Xola Ngola.
“I do not agree with that”, says Cobus Groenewoud, director at G4S. “We have presented the committee with all available facts.”
They told the commission that there was no security camera footage of the cell the night of Bester’s escape due to a power cut. They admitted when questioned that the cell is located near an emergency exit and did not rule out that the staff colluded in the jailbreak.
Bester’s friend Magudumana is a prominent doctor and entrepreneur, with over 100,000 social media followers where she posted glamorous photos, promoted her media appearances and bragged about awards such as the Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans of 2018.
Andre Snyman, a crime analyst who founded the South African crime network eblockwatch and describes himself as “South Africa’s tormenting aunt of crime,” told CNN he met Bester several years ago and described him as charismatic.
“He was an incredibly neat, well-groomed, eloquent and well-dressed man.” However, he does not expect Bester to escape a second time. “He’s South Africa’s Houdini, but I don’t think he’ll come out again.”
South African prison fire: killer faked death
