JOHANNESBURG-Tanzanian authorities on Thursday deported a South African fugitive who faked his death in prison and fled to the East African nation.
Photo by news24.
Thabo Bester, popularly known as the 'Facebook rapist', for luring his victims through the social media network, was arrested last week along with his girlfriend in Tanzania.
He was serving a life sentence when he escaped from a South African prison last May. The 35-year-old had been convicted for the rape and murder of his model girlfriend in 2012. He was also found guilty in 2013 of raping and robbing two other women.
Authorities launched a search for Bester in March after a new autopsy report found the man who died in the prison cell was not actually Bester, forcing him and his girlfriend to go on the run.
A parliamentary hearing on Wednesday was told that prison guards had helped Bester fake his own death by smuggling a corpse into his prison cell which was set alight and it was later claimed he had died by committing suicide.
Authorities said the prison escape exposed weakness in the country’s security prison run by a private British security firm G4S.
Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola told reporters that Bester’s girlfriend, Dr. Nandipha Magudumana faces several charges including aiding and abetting the escape, murder and fraud. She is expected to make her first court appearance on Thursday.
Magudumana’s father and a suspended prison guard accused of aiding the escape were charged with murder, arson and other offenses earlier this week.
Why Thabo Bester?
It was in 2011 when South Africa first learnt of Thabo Bester, the seemingly charming young man in his early 20s who would later become known as the Facebook Rapist.He lured scores of young women, raping them and robbing them, promising them lucrative modelling jobs.
At one point Thabo Bester, who at the time was a convicted fraudster, had up to 13 aliases. Some of these included Thomas Bester, Tom Bester, Thabo Tom Bester, Tom Kelly, Thomas Kelly Bester, Thomas Berter, TK, Thomas Kelly Young, Kelly Young, Thomas Magagula, Thabo Magagula, Kelly Johnstone, Rufus Mahopo and Tom Rufus Reddy.
Thabo Bester relaxes in the lounge of the Kock residence in Kibler Park. The teenager was later accused of, and jailed for, stealing from the Kock family. Picture supplied by Shanaaz Kock
He targeted young women, some in their late teens and early 20s, promising modelling jobs.Beautiful young women in Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town, who had modelling aspirations, were his prime targets.
At least one woman, Nomfundo Tyhulu, a car saleswoman who sold Thabo Bester a BMW in 2011, and who later dated the Facebook Rapist, was not so lucky. She lost her life after he stabbed her to death in Cape Town at a bed and breakfast.
Various Independent Media newsrooms, including the Cape Times, Weekend Argus, Sunday Independent, The Star, Sunday Tribune and IOL, to name a few, have over the past decade followed the story of the Facebook Rapist.
Thabo Bester is back in the news, almost 10 years after his conviction for the violent crimes he committed, because question marks remain if he is truly dead as the Department of Correctional Services announced in May 2022. (News Agencies)
He was serving a life sentence when he escaped from a South African prison last May. The 35-year-old had been convicted for the rape and murder of his model girlfriend in 2012. He was also found guilty in 2013 of raping and robbing two other women.
Authorities launched a search for Bester in March after a new autopsy report found the man who died in the prison cell was not actually Bester, forcing him and his girlfriend to go on the run.
A parliamentary hearing on Wednesday was told that prison guards had helped Bester fake his own death by smuggling a corpse into his prison cell which was set alight and it was later claimed he had died by committing suicide.
Authorities said the prison escape exposed weakness in the country’s security prison run by a private British security firm G4S.
Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola told reporters that Bester’s girlfriend, Dr. Nandipha Magudumana faces several charges including aiding and abetting the escape, murder and fraud. She is expected to make her first court appearance on Thursday.
Magudumana’s father and a suspended prison guard accused of aiding the escape were charged with murder, arson and other offenses earlier this week.
Why Thabo Bester?
It was in 2011 when South Africa first learnt of Thabo Bester, the seemingly charming young man in his early 20s who would later become known as the Facebook Rapist.He lured scores of young women, raping them and robbing them, promising them lucrative modelling jobs.
At one point Thabo Bester, who at the time was a convicted fraudster, had up to 13 aliases. Some of these included Thomas Bester, Tom Bester, Thabo Tom Bester, Tom Kelly, Thomas Kelly Bester, Thomas Berter, TK, Thomas Kelly Young, Kelly Young, Thomas Magagula, Thabo Magagula, Kelly Johnstone, Rufus Mahopo and Tom Rufus Reddy.
Thabo Bester relaxes in the lounge of the Kock residence in Kibler Park. The teenager was later accused of, and jailed for, stealing from the Kock family. Picture supplied by Shanaaz Kock
He targeted young women, some in their late teens and early 20s, promising modelling jobs.Beautiful young women in Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town, who had modelling aspirations, were his prime targets.
At least one woman, Nomfundo Tyhulu, a car saleswoman who sold Thabo Bester a BMW in 2011, and who later dated the Facebook Rapist, was not so lucky. She lost her life after he stabbed her to death in Cape Town at a bed and breakfast.
Various Independent Media newsrooms, including the Cape Times, Weekend Argus, Sunday Independent, The Star, Sunday Tribune and IOL, to name a few, have over the past decade followed the story of the Facebook Rapist.
Thabo Bester is back in the news, almost 10 years after his conviction for the violent crimes he committed, because question marks remain if he is truly dead as the Department of Correctional Services announced in May 2022. (News Agencies)