Police have arrested a suspect linked with CCTV tampering on the night that Facebook rapist Thabo Bester made his audacious Bloemfontein prison escape.
The suspect is believed to be a former Integritron employee, the company that was contracted by G4S to maintain the CCTV cameras at the Mangaung Correctional Centre.
Parliament heard on Wednesday how the CCTV cameras stopped working between around 9pm until 4am on the night Bester escaped, during a parliament portfolio committee meeting.
National police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said a 44-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday and he is expected to appear before the Bloemfontein Magistrate Court on Thursday.
“The suspect who is an employee contracted to a company that installs and maintains cameras at the Mangaung Correctional Centre faces a charge of aiding and abetting a convicted prisoner to escape from lawful custody, defeating the ends of justice as well as violation of a dead body,” she said.
Mathe also added that North West police have seized a white Porsche Cayenne vehicle believed to be owned by, Bester’s fugitive girlfriend Dr Nandipha Magudumana.
The vehicle was seized by the Gauteng SAPS Tracking Team in Lichtenburg, North West.
According to Mathe, a 28-year-old man who was driving the vehicle has since been taken into police custody where he is currently being questioned.
The National Commissioner of SAPS, General Fannie Masemola said police are closing the net on those responsible for aiding Bester to escape from lawful custody.
“Anyone who knows that they are involved in this case are warned to hand themselves over to authorities. Either they hand themselves in or we fetch them ourselves”, said Masemola.
Magudumana’s father, Zolile Sekeleni, and former G4S supervisor Senohe Matsoara, have also been arrested in connection with Bester’s escape.
Sekeleni and Matsoara are charged with the murder of the unknown man whose body was discovered in Cell 35.
Bester and Magudumana are in police custody in Tanzania after being nabbed last Friday.
Police minister Bheki Cele and Correctional Services minister Ronald Lamola are expected to update the nation on developments pertaining to the Bester escape and in terms of efforts of deporting Bester and Magudumana, at 8.30am on Thursday morning.
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