Dr Nandipha Magudumana brought an urgent application challenging her arrest, claiming she was abducted and not lawfully arrested. The Bloemfontein High Court dismissed her application with costs on Monday. Picture: Timothy Bernard African News Agency (ANA)
Johannesburg - Bloemfontein High Court Judge Phillip Loubser on Monday dismissed, with costs, Dr Nandipha Magudumana’s urgent application to have her arrest declared unlawful.
She will, therefore, remain in custody as her court battle unfolds.
Magudumana was arrested in Tanzania in April, alongside her fugitive boyfriend, Thabo Bester.
She is facing 12 charges linked to Bester’s escape from the G4S-run Mangaung Correctional Facility in the Free State.
Instead of applying for bail, Magudumana brought an urgent application challenging her arrest, claiming she was abducted and not lawfully arrested.
Government agencies have denied Magudumana’s allegations, saying she was arrested on South African soil.
Her urgent application was heard at the Bloemfontein High Court, where she was represented by top international advocate Anton Katz SC.
On Monday, Loubser said that while Magudumana’s application did not meet the requirements to be considered as an urgent matter, it was in the interest of justice that he would hear the matter.
He said there was “massive and material factual disputes” in Magudumana’s arrest and circumstances in which she was transported back to South Africa,
However, Loubser said he had ‘’no hesitation’’ in finding that Magudumana was aware of the charges she faced in South Africa when she consented to return to the country so that she could see her children.
Last week, the State argued Magudumana was not arrested in Tanzania, nor was she arrested during the flight or placed in handcuffs. The State told the court that she was not blindfolded and forced onto a plane at any point, as Magudumana has claimed in her application.
Advocate Neil Snellenburg, who was representing the SAPS, told the court that at no point did Magudumana refuse to get onto a private jet that had been chartered to ensure she and Facebook rapist Thabo Bester returned to the country to face trial.
kailene.pillay@inl.co.za
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