Convicted serial rapist and murderer Thabo Bester has turned to the Constitutional Court in a bid to seek leave to appeal against the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein’s judgment that dashed his hopes of challenging the alleged poor conditions of his incarceration and his plea for, among things, laptop access in the criminal court instead of the civil court.

Bester wanted to bring his legal challenge in the criminal court during pre-trial proceedings rather than in the civil court as directed by the Judge President.

The High Court, in a February 2025 judgment found that the objection to the jurisdiction of the civil court was without merit and as a result, the bid did not succeed.

Bester, through his lawyer, has filed papers in the Constitutional Court on Monday for leave to appeal the judgment contending that “it would be a travesty of justice if it were left unchallenged”.

The founding affidavit penned by his attorney, further charges that the judgment is out of harmony with what the learned Justice was called upon to decide.

Bester is seemingly parachuting his leave to appeal bid to the highest court in the land while it is simultaneously before the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein in the form of a conditional leave to appeal application.

Bester and his co-accused are facing multiple charges relating to his elaborate escape from prison.

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