WATCH: Nandipha Magudumana breaks down in court, claims she was ‘forced to leave SA’

Nandipha Magudumana, the girlfriend of convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester, has told the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court she was forced to leave the country by the Facebook rapist against her will.

An emotional and teary-eyed Magudumana appeared in court on Tuesday in a bail bid. Scenes from the courtroom showed her crying when her affidavit was read out.

Bail proceedings are expected to be heard over two days.

Forced to leave South Africa

Magudumana’s affidavit read into the record by her lawyer Frans Dlamini alleged she was taken out of South Africa against her will by Bester.

“On or about the 17^th of March 2023 I was in the company of accused number five (Bester). I was instructed and commanded by accuse number five to get into the vehicle and leave the premises to a destination unknown to me at the time.

“I refused and wanted an explanation but he forced me into a vehicle and I succumbed to pressure due to the threats he directed at me. I was defenceless, helpless and had no one to report to at the time,” Magudumana said.

ALSO READ: Thabo Bester: Nandipha Magudumana to apply for bail

Complied with Bester

Magudumana claimed she complied with Bester’s alleged demands.

“I complied with his instructions and was taken out of the country against my will. At all material times, I had no control over the situation because of the threats made by accused number five.

“I submit that I made did not voluntarily depart from the Republic of South Africa as the most dreaded. In any event, I had no reason to leave South Africa,” Magudumana said in her affidavit.

Bail

Magudumana said she could afford R10 000 bail.

“I don’t intend to live as a fugitive. I will not evade my trial. I will stand by my trial. I am a well-known medical practitioner and would not think of evading my trial. I can be given bail conditions.”

Magudumana said while she is married and separated, she would not divulge the reasons in her bail application.

Magudumana previously reserved her right to bail in May 2023 pending the outcome of an application to have her arrest and extradition from Tanzania declared unlawful.

Earlier, state prosecutor Sello Matlhoko told the court Magudumana’s application in the high court to have her arrest and deportation declared unlawful and set aside.

Charges

She is facing schedule 5 offences of fraud, corruption, arson, violation of a body and defeating the ends of justice for her alleged role in the prison escape of Bester.

This means the onus is on her to show why the interests of justice permit her release on bail.

Bester and Magudumana were arrested in April, about 10km out of Arusha in Tanzania, after fleeing the hotel they were staying in.

The Facebook rapist escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Centre (MCC) in Bloemfontein in May 2022, after it was initially believed he had committed suicide by setting himself alight in his cell.

ALSO READ: WATCH: Lovebirds Thabo Bester and Nandipha reunite for first time after arrest