Man accused of being paid to facilitate Bester's escape will explain deposits in account — lawyer

The attorney of a man accused of being paid to facilitate “Facebook rapist” and murderer Thabo Bester's escape from Mangaung prison has denied his client was paid to bribe anyone. 

Senohe Matsoara, Teboho Lipholo, Nandipha Buti Masukela, Tieho Frans Makhotsa and Natassja Jansen appeared in the Bloemfontein magistrate's court on Tuesday for their bail application. 

Kagisho Moruri, for Senohe Matsoara, told the court at the right time his client will account for every cent deposited into his bank account and demonstrate where it came from. 

Last week, the investigating officer testified in the bail application of the five former employees of G4S, which ran the Mangaung correctional facility. The officer described the role of each accused. 

According to his evidence, Matsoara was deeply involved in the plot to help Bester escape. “There were regular deposits of money into his [Matsoara's] account. The deposits were coming from an individual referenced as TK,” the officer said.

Deposits totalling about R150,000 were made in tranches of between R25,000 and R30,000.  

From that money, Matsoara paid R40,000 to Lipholo, who was a CCTV technician. The money was paid in two tranches — R30,000 into Lipholo's wife's account before the escape and R10,000 into Lipholo's account. 

Another payment of R14,000 was made to Tieho Frans Makgotsa after the escape. 

Matsoara's attorney cross-examined the officer for more than two hours, trying to discredit his evidence. 

Moruri said his client never received money from Bester. 

The officer had previously told the court Bester used aliases of TK Nwana and TK Motsepe, hence they are convinced the money was deposited by him. 

“I put it to you TK could mean a variety of things. It could be anyone whose name starts with TK, could be a nickname,” Moruri said.

He said the officer erred in his testimony about Matsoara's trips to Lesotho. 

The officer previously said Matsoara visited Lesotho eight times between October and November last year. His passport had 16 border stamps. 

Moruri, however, disputed this and said his client only visited Lesotho four times, as at the border they stamp the passport twice with every pass. 

He told the officer his client never knew Katlego Bereng, whose body was used as a decoy in Bester's escape. The officer had told the court the two knew each other and used to drink together. 

Moruri asked the officer to provide the dates on which the two drank together and the officer said he didn't have the dates.

Lipholo's attorney Tshotlego Makamedi also tried to discredit the evidence by the investigating officer. 

The officer previously told the court Lipholo had called police and confessed about his involvement in Bester's escape and laid out what each person's role was. 

“Where on earth would my client have had the cellphone number of that police officer that you say he called?” Makamedi asked. 

He said the police called his client and arranged to meet him at Mimosa Mall. However, the officer said that was impossible because had the police called Lipholo, they would have asked him to meet at the police station.

Earlier, the court amended its previous order, barring the media from broadcasting the proceedings live. 

Magistrate Motlholo Khabisi said the court might have acted beyond what it was supposed to when it gave that order. He reached the conclusion after receiving a legal letter from lawyers representing media.  

He admitted the media were not given a chance to make submissions in court and said the previous order was myopic. 

The bail application will continue on Friday with the cross-examination of the witness by the defence.

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