CNN
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South African prosecutors have dropped a homicide cost in opposition to Zolile Sekeleni, the daddy of the girlfriend of high-profile convicted assassin Thabo Bester, who’s accused of escaping from a South African jail after faking his personal loss of life in a fireplace, officers instructed CNN Monday.
Sekeleni’s daughter, Nandipha Magudumana, a distinguished medical physician and character in South Africa was arrested on April 7 whereas on the run in Tanzania with Bester.
Dubbed “The Fb rapist” in South Africa, Bester was serving a life sentence for the homicide and rape of a mannequin in 2012.
Bester, 35, allegedly faked his loss of life by inserting the charred stays of one other man in his jail cell, officers stated.
The couple have been arrested with a Mozambican nationwide by Tanzanian authorities final week within the border city of Arusha after fleeing South Africa and was subsequently deported to South Africa.
Magudumana’s father Sekeleni, 65, was arrested on April 8 alongside a former jail warden and a former safety digicam technician, with the trio accused of being accomplices in Bester’s escape, in accordance with the police and prosecutors.
He had initially been charged with “defeating the ends of justice, fraud, homicide, and arson,” however that has now been dropped, a spokesperson for South Africa’s Nationwide Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Phaladi Shuping, instructed CNN.
A homicide investigation by authorities had earlier concluded that the burned physique present in Bester’s cell had died earlier than the hearth started.
An post-mortem report additionally discovered that the deceased had died on account of blunt power trauma to the pinnacle.
Shuping stated the homicide cost was dropped in gentle of recent proof, however added Sekeleni, a former educator, would face different costs.
“The state will now not be continuing with a cost of homicide in opposition to Zolile Sekeleni as a result of new proof got here forth, which made us take this resolution. He’ll nonetheless face costs of helping an inmate to flee, defeating the ends of justice and fraud,” NPA spokesperson Shuping stated.
He added that “Sekeleni was launched on bail of R10,000 ($550) attributable to compelling circumstances that have been thought-about by the prosecution, regarding his well being.”
Sekeleni will make one other look in court docket on Might 16, whereas a bail listening to for his daughter Magudumana in addition to different accused might be held early subsequent month.
CNN has reached out to his and Magudumana’s lawyer for remark.
Magudumana was charged with homicide and fraud, together with aiding and abetting Bester’s escape.
In keeping with police, he faces new costs of escaping from lawful custody, defeating the ends of justice, violation of a useless physique and fraud.
