An emotional Thabo Bester pleaded with the Bloemfontein High Court on Wednesday to impose the death penalty on him and let his co-accused free.
Capital punishment in South Africa was abolished on 6 June 1995.
The convicted rapist and murderer escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Centre after faking his death in a fire in his prison cell in May 2022. He was on the run for almost a year before being caught in Arusha, Tanzania, on 8 April 2023.
Bester, his partner Nandipha Magudumana and the other seven accused face charges including fraud, corruption, violating a body, and harbouring and concealing an escaped convict.
Bester, 37, addressed the court after a third legal representative withdrew from his case, allegedly because of non-payment.
He was being represented by advocate Mohamed Seedat.
Bester told the court that he has struggled to consult freely with his legal representatives at the prison.
“The challenges are that I don’t have access to the documents that the legal representatives want to give me because the national commissioner has placed me directly under him, meaning that nothing can be given to me without his direct approval,” Bester told the court.
He said his legal representatives were recusing themselves from his case because of the way they are treated when they want to consult with him.
Bester claimed that his telephonic consultations with lawyers were being recorded by the Department of Correctional Services.
He said he feared for his mental well-being as he had not been in contact with people other than the guard stationed outside his cell in the 15 months that he had been in prison.
He said it was unfair that his “so-called co-accused” were sitting in court for something they knew nothing about.
“Your Honour, I say this as a broken man, and I say this wholeheartedly. It tears me apart to see these people in this court, knowing that they are suffering for something they know nothing about,” he said.
Bester proceeded to ask the court to give him the death penalty, which would be signed by the public through a petition.
“I will immediately agree to that, and we can end this matter,” he said.
He said he arrived at court with a convoy of 80 vehicles and had been awake since 2am.
“I have chains on my feet. My feet are ice cold. I can’t feel my toes. This is not the way I want to proceed, your Honour,” he said.
“If it means that this court can accept the petition and the public can sign it, then we can put all this to rest. I am at peace. I know what I’ve done and what I have not done.”
Bester’s co-accused are Magudumana, her father Zolile Sekeleni, her gardener Zando Moyo, and four G4S employees accused of assisting Bester escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre.
The pretrial hearing was postponed, giving all parties a chance to resolve all outstanding matters, including Bester’s legal representation.
The pretrial conference will resume on 24 July.
Pictured above: Thabo Bester addressing the Bloemfontein High Court on Wednesday.
Source: X
