Thabo Bester was a sentenced prisoner who was sentenced to life imprisonment, who had been convicted of murder and rape as well as armed robbery. He was incarcerated at the G4S prison.”

UPDATES: 12 May 2023, Updates On Thabo Bester’s Escape

 

 

 

Proceedings have commenced as the witness from SAPS organised crime has continued with his evidence on the stand. He is answering to questions posed by state prosecutor Sello Mathloko. The media are not allowed to reveal the identity of the witness.

The witness is asked about Senohe Matsoara’s role in Bester’s escape. He says #Matsoara is the one who took in the corpse that was placed in Bester’s cell.

The witness says on the 27 April 2022, Zollie Sekeleni (#DrNandipha Magudumana’s father) hired a vehicle at OR Tambo. #Sekeleni travelled with this vehicle to Bloemfontein. #Matsoara used this same vehicle on 29 April to take the corpse into prison.

The witness says on the day the corpse was smuggled into Bester’s cell Buti #Masukela was the person stationed at the entrance gate of the prison. #Matsoara did not have a gate pass to enter on the day. At the back of the van he had a TV stand as well as the corpse.

The witness says #Matsoara was not searched on the day and he was not on duty either. Matsoara drove into the facility and towards the workshop. The TV stand as well as the corpse were taken into the workshop and offloaded by Matsoara and #Masukela

The witness says Teboho #Lipholo (the CCTV technician) took the corpse the next day (April 30, 2022) and placed it into a trolley dustbin. He was pretending as if he was cleaning the prison yard. He took the corpse to #Broadway, a section where single cell inmates are detained.

#Lipoholo took the corpse into Broadway through the emergency door. The witness says the entrance into Broadway is controlled electronically but Lipholo, being a technician, was able to bypass the system.

#Lipholo then took the body into an area called the Duct Room, a passage which leads to the roof of the prison. The witness says Lipholo left the corpse in the Duct Room and and proceeded back to the prison yard with the dustbin.

The witness says on May 2, 2022, #Lipholo was meant to knock off his shift in the evening. When officers clock out they are meant to stamp their fingerprints into the biometrics system.

The witness says #Lipholo did not clock out but stayed behind and that’s when the planning started on how to get the corpse into cell 35. He says Lipholo was meant to switch of the camera’s. #Matsoara – as a supervisor – was not meant to be on shift that evening.

The witness says #Matsoara went to a certain block called “Walls.” He proceeded to a cell with four inmates and talked to them. The witness says proper procedure is that a supervisor would have to register a visit or inspection of a cell. Matsoara did not do that.

The witness says in the middle of the night there was an indication of smoke in cell 35. #Matsoara went and inspected what was going on in cell 35. There was an officer stationed in Broadway who went with Matsoara to inspect cell 35.

The witness says Broadway has a ground floor and first floor. Cell 35 is located on the first floor. #Matsoara went straight to cell 35 while the other official was on the ground floor investigating where the smoke might be coming from.

#Matsoara informed his colleague there was no smoke. At that stage an inmate had been complaining of being short of breath. Matsoara instructed his colleague, who was junior official, to attend to that inmate – leaving Matsoara alone in Broadway.

When the junior official reached the cell to attend to the inmate he had to wait for a supervisor to open for him – which is protocol. The junior official tried to contact #Matsoara on the radio but Matsoara was unreachable.

The junior official stood outside the cell until 3am on May 3, 2022. The witness says 3am is the time when the inmate in charge of cooking food for other inmates, start their duties. The junior official then left the cell where the inmate was complaining of being short of breath.

The witness says an alarm was then raised, alerting people to the fact that cell 35 was ablaze. Cell 35 was at the time occupied by #ThaboBester. Attempts were then made to put out the fire.

The witness says statements provided by other officials present on the morning indicate #Matsoara had been pretending he was interested in extinguishing the fire. He was on his cellphone the entire time.

After the fire was extinguished a corpse believed to be that of #ThaboBester was found in the cell. It was believed at the time that Bester had committed suicide.