Nastassja Jansen – who faces charges of arson, defeating the ends of justice, fraud and assisting Thabo Bester to escape from prison – has been granted bail.
The other four co-accused – Senohe Matsoara, Teboho Lipholo, Motenyani Masukela, and Tieho Makhotsa – were denied bail and ordered back in jail when they appeared before the Bloemfontein magistrate’s court on Monday.
Their case has been postponed to June 20.
The suspects include four former G4S employees and one person who was a technician for an information technology company responsible for installing CCTV cameras at the Mangaung Correctional Centre where Bester sneaked out in May 2022.
“The the court is ready and prepared to hand down judgment today, said magistrate Motlholo Khabisi when he got the proceedings under way.
“All the accused submitted affidavits as part of their applications, however, nothing further was brought [forward]. The state brought the investigating officer in opposition of bail.”
Sello Matlhoko, the prosecutor, argued that not much weight could be attached to the accused statements because they could not be cross-examined.
Delivering the verdict, Khabisi said Matsoara is facing 13 charges including fraud, arson, and defeating the ends of justice while Lipholo is charged with 10 counts including fraud, arson, and defeating the ends of justice.
He also told the court that Masukela faces five charges including fraud, arson, and defeating the ends of justice, and Makhotsa is charged with six counts that include arson.
Jansen, who has three charges hanging over her head, was granted R10 000 bail on condition that she reports to the police in Heidedal at 6am and 6pm every Friday.
She has also been instructed not to interfere with state witnesses and is not allowed to leave Bloemfontein without the permission of the investigating officer.
It was read out in court that according to the investigating officer, Tieho Jobo Flynman, Katlego Bereng, whose body was found in Bester’s torched prison cell after he had escaped, was never buried.
Upon exhuming the grave believed to be housing his corpse, three 10kg bags of mealie meal were found inside the coffin.
Flynman detailed in his testimony which was read out in court how Matsoara allegedly entered the sally port, an entry point with two gates and a holding area between it without authorisation or a gate pass, and without having the vehicle which contained a TV stand and a bag with Bereng’s body being searched.
Masukela was the officer at the entry point who allowed Matsoara in.
Flynman had also testified that a guard posted at the Broadway block, where Bester was held, was told by Matsoara to attend to a prisoner with a stomach ache at the Walls block.
Matsoara, then the only guard at the block, was allegedly unreachable on radio.
On May 3 2022, Motsoara called Lepholo to the prison yard where he was told to fetch the body in the Dark Room. The pair then placed Bereng’s body in cell 35. Bester was then given a G4S prison guard uniform as a disguise.
“Makhotsa and Jansen were the ones who opened the doors for Bester, who exited the prison centre with Lepholo,” Flynman said in his testimony.
Khabisi said he could not fault the investigating officer’s testimony because he was honest, adding that the applicants’ lawyers argued that the state did not have a strong case.
However, the state argued that the applicants’ attorneys did not address all the factors in the case, submitting that the applicants should not be released on bail.
In closing arguments heard on Tuesday last week, Matlhoko said: “The people who were supposed to ensure that the Facebook rapist, Thabo Bester, stayed behind bars for the rest of his life were the same people who orchestrated his dramatic escape from prison.”
This was the prosecutor’s argument in a bid to convince the court not to grant bail to the accused.
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