Cape Town – The family of the man whose body was used as a decoy in Thabo Bester’s escape from prison says it was painful to hear how his body was moved about like a toy.
Police officer Tieho Jobo Flyman testified on Friday last week how Katlego Bereng’s body was smuggled into the Mangaung prison and how money changed hands before and after the escape.
According to GroundUp, in the dock were former Mangaung prison employees Senohe Matsoara, Monteyani Masukela, Tieho Makhotsa, Nastassja Jansen, along with Teboho Lipholo, a former employee of CCTV service provider Integritron Security Solutions.
Flyman said that on 27 April 2022, the father of Bester’s partner Nandipha Magudumana, Zolile Sekeleni, hired a car from OR Tambo airport. This same vehicle was used to carry a corpse from National Hospital in Bloemfontein to the prison on 29 April.
He said the corpse had been claimed by Magudumana, who had said the body was the child of an acquaintance’s brother. She claimed she was assisting him to arrange the funeral. Flyman said a fake funeral was held, and when the police later exhumed the coffin, they found three 10kg sacks of maize meal.
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He said the corpse was smuggled into the prison inside a TV cabinet. The car it was brought in should have been searched by the staff at the gate, but it was not. The corpse was then left in the TV cabinet, which had been placed in the prison workshop. The next day, Lipholo placed it in a wheelie bin and took it to the prison yard. Lipholo was able to tamper with the system to get the body into Bester’s cell, Flyman said.
Flyman said that Senohe Matsoara, the supervisor on duty on the night of the fire, did nothing to extinguish the fire when he got to the cell at around 3am on the morning of 3 May 2022. Officials from other blocks arrived at the cell, responding to the fire alarm. The fire was extinguished and a corpse was discovered in the cell. It was assumed that the body was Bester’s and that he had committed suicide.
Katlego’s aunt, Poppy Bereng said it was painful to hear how his body was kept like that of someone without a family.
“His body was like a tennis ball being tossed about from one point to the other. It was painful to hear how his body was kept like that of someone with no family.
“It’s devastating to hear all the things they did. When you look at the accused people as the testimony is heard, there are no signs of emotions from them. They don’t look remorseful at all. It’s like they are not talking about them,” Times LIVE quoted Poppy as saying.
Bester escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein on 3 May 2022 when he faked his death in a fire.
Katlego’s remains were identified after DNA results matched with his mother.
He had been missing since March last year.
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Composed by Betha Madhomu
