Lomas’ lawyer, Mannie Witz, said the 77-year-old suffered a nosebleed and his hand was “severely cut” following the fall.

“Apparently the lights had gone out and he was groping back to his bed, and he slipped and fell and hit his head on the sink. There was nothing from the other prisoners or the authorities. It was an unfortunate (fall) and obviously age-related. He’s not a young man anymore and he’s been dealt a pretty bad blow.

Lomas had to be examined by doctors at the facility, delaying his appearance in Palm Ridge court.

According to his legal representative, the accused will not attend court with other prisoners, in line with a commitment made by South African authorities during extradition negotiations.

“He’s coming with the investigation team. He was extradited from the United Kingdom and resides in England. There are a lot of conditions that the English government has imposed, as has Mr Dewani, to ensure that he is properly treated in the Republic of South Africa,” Witz explained.

He said the South African government was so far abiding by the agreed terms and there had been no complaints.

On Monday, the state won its case to have the multi-million rand fraud case against Lomas transferred to the High Court, where he would appear alongside 11 others.

The Lomas case was scheduled to be heard on December 3, 2024 before the High Court of Case Management.

They all face more than 60 corruption charges relating to the R1.4 billion contract to upgrade Eskom’s Kusile power station in Mpumalanga between 2014 and 2017.

These are schedule five offences, which require the court to satisfy that the interests of justice permit the accused to be released on bail.

Witz explained why, after being in custody for more than a month, Lomas was not seeking bail at this point.

“His ex-wife, who he was married to here in South Africa, lives in another province and they are no longer together. The most important thing is you have to show some sort of connection, emotional, professional and residential (to get bail. So we tried to place him in a fragile care facility so he would have a permanent address. At at this point he has no permanent address.

In court, Witz clarified that Lomas was not giving up his right to seek bail.

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