JOHANNESBURG - Convicted murderer and serial rapist Thabo Bester claims his constitutional rights are being violated.
This comes as he challenges charges linked to his escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in May 2022.
Bester appeared before the High Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday, where he maintained that he never escaped and will prove this in court.
"Since my incarceration in 2023, they've classified me as a high-profile and kept me in solitary confinement for the past three years.
"And the reason, if you look at it, it's an alleged escape. There's no other factor. There's no violation of prison rules, found with contraband, or any other issue. It's just the fact that I am accused of escaping.
"But that accusation has been implemented already by correctional services," he said,
Bester argued that the trial is meaningless.
"Why am I going to a criminal trial where I'm already guilty of a crime that I'm supposed to go and defend myself? Because even if I defend myself, and I can showcase that, and I cite to say this, that there is more than overwhelming evidence that I have, and my legal defense has, that we are 100% sure I would never be in a position where I'm found guilty on escape.
"Because the escape is not a typical escape where a person broke out of a wall and jumped, Your Honor. It's a situation where somebody has been out for a very long time, and then they decided that this person escaped," he said.
Judgment has been reserved on this matter.