G4S guard accused of helping Thabo Bester escape abandons bail bid

From left to right: Accused Thabang Meir, Joel Makhetha and Moeketsi Ramolula appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court. Picture: screenshot/SABC

From left to right: Accused Thabang Meir, Joel Makhetha and Moeketsi Ramolula appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court. Picture: screenshot/SABC

Published Jul 11, 2023

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One of the men accused of helping convicted rapist and killer, Thabo Bester escape custody, has abandoned his bid for bail.

Moeketsi Ramolula appeared alongside Joel Lekhari Makhetha in Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court on Tuesday. Ramolula chose to abandon his bail application while Makhetha was granted R10 000 bail.

To date, seven suspects implicated in Bester's escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in May last year have been granted bail.

All of the accused, including Bester, are due back in court on August 8.

The pair were nabbed alongside another G4S employee, Thabang Mier. Meir was granted bail with strict conditions. He was ordered to attend court cases, not communicate, threaten or intimidate any of the State witnesses, he may not leave the Mangaung district without the permission of the investigating officer and has to report weekly to his local police station between 8 am and 4 pm.

Five days ago, Bester's lover and one of the co-accused, Dr Nandipha Magudumana's application for leave to appeal the Bloemfontein High Court decision that dismissed her urgent application to declare her arrest in Tanzania unlawful is set to be heard next Friday, July 14.

The high court dismissed Magudumana’s application last month and ruled that she had to remain in custody after she failed to convince Judge Philip Loubser that her arrest and extradition were unlawful.

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