Recaptured fugitive Thabo Bester and his girlfriend Dr Nandipha Magudumana reportedly spent nights booked at luxurious hotels as they plotted their great escape.

The couple stayed at the Tredenham Boutique Hotel in March and again in April, using one of Bester’s aliases, TK Nkwana.

An invoice from the hotel, which the Sunday Times has seen, shows the couple stayed for four nights, checking in on Thursday, March 24 2022 and out on Monday, March 28.

However, the hotel’s owner said their booking system showed the couple had stayed a further night, checking out on Tuesday, March 29.

They were back two weeks later, checking in for one night on Wednesday, April 13.

Three weeks later, Bester escaped from Mangaung Correctional Centre, a maximum-security prison, after faking his suicide by burning a body in his cell. He was dressed as a warden.

 

 

 

 

The hotel is 25km from the prison.

The department of correctional services said this week that no day or weekend passes are allowed at the prison, which houses some of South Africa’s most dangerous criminals.

The hotel bookings were made online, with Magudumana checking the couple into the hotel using her driver’s licence.

The invoice for the first four days booked in March, for R8,206.23, shows two people stayed in the presidential suite. It shows a Visa card was used on March 24 to pay R4,760, with R3,446,23 still owing when the invoice was generated on March 28.

On the nights of March 24 and March 25 “two adults” stayed in the hotel’s luxury King Room 101 at a cost of R1,445 a night.

On March 26 they stayed in the presidential suite in room 201 at a cost of R1,870 a night. On March 27 two adults stayed in the hotel’s executive suite at R1,657.50 a night.

The invoice shows that “Nkwana” was also billed R198.35 for laundry; R995 for restaurant food; R81 for drinks from the restaurant bar; R100 for tips for the restaurant staff; and R414.38 for a late checkout.

Hotel owner Gavin Jacobson confirmed the authenticity of the invoice.