Convicted murderer and serial rapist Thabo Bester has approached the Constitutional Court to appeal a ruling made by the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein not to address the matter of his alleged poor conditions in prison.

TAKING THE MATTER TO THE CONSTITUTION COURT

Bester, through his defence, Lerato Moela, filed papers in the Constitutional Court yesterday for leave to appeal the judgment, contending that his prison living conditions be eased. The founding affidavit submitted by his defence further states that the high court's judgement is out of tune with what the learned Justice was called upon to decide. "The historical background and grounds of appeal would reveal how the learned Justice misconstrued the issues before her, thereby exceeding the bounds of authority she had," the court papers read. Bester stated in his application. In his plea, Bester, among other things, asked for his laptop, stating that it would be used to prepare for his trial. Bester sought to apply for his legal challenge in the criminal court during pre-trial proceedings rather than in the civil court as directed by the judge president. However, the High Court, in a February 2025 judgment, found that the objection to the jurisdiction of the civil court was without merit, and as a result, the bid did not succeed.

DARING ESCAPE

In April 2023, G4S, the security company that was managing Mangaung Prison, where Bester escaped, told the Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services that Bester's escape was well planned. Giving the timeline to Bester's escape, the prison's centre director, Joseph Monyante, said that the murderer's plan came into action on 30 April 2022, when Bester asked to be moved from a communal to a single cell, claiming he feared for his life. Monyante said two days after Bester was moved to a single cell, a fire was reported in the early hours of 3 May 2022. The fire was extinguished by qualified prison personnel, and 30 minutes later, a nurse from Faranani Health Services arrived, followed by the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) controller. The prison's operations director arrived with a doctor who examined the burnt body and certified the prisoner dead. It was later discovered that Bester, with the help of his lover, Dr Nandipha Magudumana, used the body of Katlego Bereng as a decoy for him to be able to escape. The couple was arrested in Tanzania after they fled the country.