Magudumana bail: Case postponed for further arguments

The state's heads of arguments needs to address the issues raised about the schedule of the bail application.

Picture File: Dr Nandipha Magudumana appearing before the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court. Picture: Nigel Sibanda

The bail application of disgraced medical doctor Nandipha Magudumana has been postponed to the 4 September for further arguments by the defence and the state to proceed.

Magudumana appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday and Wednesday for her bail application related to her alleged role in the grand escape of convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein.

Arguments

State prosecutor Sello Matlhoko said his heads of arguments need to now address the issues raised about the schedule of the bail application and committed to have the heads of arguments by the 1st of September.

“The court shall have noted that there are issues, one of which is very crucial and which relates to a schedule, I would not have anticipated that there will be such argument on a schedule after we have agreed and the defence had indeed agreed that it is a schedule five.

“So, whatever I have prepared so far would not have dealt with the issue of the schedule. Therefore, I need to work on my prepared heads of argument,” Matlhoko said.

WATCH: A year since manhunt saw Bester and Magudumana return from Tanzania

ALSO READ: ‘Where is the evidence?’: Lawyer says Nandipha Magudumana is not a flight risk

This comes after defence Advocate Frans Dlamini said the state had not provided evidence that Magudumana’s bid for bail is a schedule 5 application.

Dlamini argued that that Magdumana is facing a schedule 1 rather than a schedule 5 offence.

Dlamini added that instructing attorney Machini Motloung will finish up the defences closing arguments when the application resumes as he will not available.

Bail

During Wednesday’s court proceedings, Dlamini made compelling arguments rebutting the states version of events saying ‘the evidence that the state relied on was of a poor nature” to deny Magudumana bail.

“The affidavit of the applicant is simple and straight forward, she explains her personal circumstances, she has two children, she was honest about her travel documents.

“Her version remains unchallenged. There is nothing that the state has shown that how she left the country is untrue,

In May, Magudumana reserved her right to bail pending the outcome of an application to have her arrest and extradition from Tanzania declared unlawful.

ALSO READ: WATCH: Nandipha Magudumana breaks down in court, claims she was ‘forced to leave SA’