Judge admits he’s behind leak of Thabo Bester’s escape to the media
Former justice Edwin Cameron of the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services leaked the report that found that the burnt body was not Bester's
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A frustrated judge leaked information on Thabo Bester’s escape to publication GroundUp due to the slow investigation by law enforcement officials who had initially requested that the revelation remain silent.
The Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS), which inspects prisons, turned to the media to reveal that the burnt body found in Mangaung prison last year was not that of Bester.
Former justice Edwin Cameron, the JICS's inspecting judge, said they met with the police in August last year with the DNA and autopsy findings that were put together by himself and the CEO Vick Misser.
The police requested Cameron to not publicise these findings to give them a chance to complete their own investigations, he said.
But after police interviewed the two witnesses and investigations into their findings were moving at a slow pace, Cameron said he reached out to the media in September.
“I started informing trusted people in the media, who have already been identified, in the course of September. I relied on my belief in the integrity of the editor whom I’ve known for a long time. I trust his integrity greatly. The second thing is that I supplied GroundUp only with publicly accessible information.
“I acted to alert the public ... The people I alerted acted with care and caution and immense responsibility and scepticism.”
He said he also had a telephonic conversation with minister of justice Ronald Lamola after the regional correctional service commissioner declined to discuss Bester’s escape.
Cameron admitted that everyone dragged their feet in the matter, particularly G4S.
“G4S thought they could get away with dismissing two or three lower personnel ... The report from G4S persisted in the fiction that Bester died.”
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