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AS Thabo Bester, the recaptured killer-rapist appeared in court to face charges of escaping from jail, where he was serving a life sentence, the mystery that is his life has started to unravel.
Bester appeared in the Bloemfontein High Court where his case was remanded to May16. On the same day, the South African government has revealed that Bester is indeed a South African citizen, born at the Chris-Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, Johannesburg on 13 June 1986 but his birth was never registered in the National Population Register.
SA Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has also revealed that Bester was never issued with an identity book or a passport by the government.
Motsoaledi said his department had traced Bester’s mother and relatives as well as the school he attended.
In court yesterday, Bester attempted to address the court, when this was denied, his lawyers revealed that he had not eaten for over 24 hours because he was scared that he would be poisioned.
The court did not entertain the claim and remanded the case. Bester is back in prison where he is serving a life sentence for rape and murder.
When they were caught, Bester and his girlfriend Dr Nandipha Magudumana were in possession of several passports.
Bester appeared in court a day after Magudumana stood in the dock with a CCTV technician who is alleged to have assisted the convict to escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein.
In the South African Parliament, MPs spent over two days grilling the ministers of justice and police, the management of correctional services and private security company G4S, demanding answers about an escape that has shocked the nation.
The MPs, shocked and irritated by the elaborate escape of Bester have demanded that the R45-million-a-month contract for G4S to run the Mangaung Correctional Centre should be terminated.
Bester was recaptured in Tanzania and is being held at the Kgosi Mampuru Maximum Security Prison in Pretoria.
Bester and his lover Dr Nandipha Magudumana arrived in SA early on Thursday, escorted by a high-profile delegation from the law enforcement agencies. Bester was taken to the prison, which houses high-risk prisoners and Magudumana, placed under arrest, was taken to Bloemfontein where she appeared in court, charged with a slew of charges which include aiding Bester to escape, fraud and murder. Her case was postponed to April 17 for possible bail application.
SA Correctional Services Commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale said the Pretoria facility was chosen because they can better manage Bester, who will be under 24-hour surveillance. Officials were expected to move Bester to Bloemfontein where he is expected to appear in court on Friday.
Ronald Lamola, SA’s Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, has thanked the Tanzanian government for its co-operation, both in capturing and the extradition of Bester and Magudumana.
On Wednesday Magudumana’s father and a former prison warder appeared in court in connection with the duo’s flight from SA.
Magudumana is expected to appear in the Bloemfontein High Court together with a CCTV technician suspected of tampering with the cameras to facilitate Bester’s escape.
Magudumana is also expected to face charges that would include insurance fraud following revelations that she stole bodies from mortuaries in the Free State and submitted fraudulent insurance claims.
Bester and Magudumana, whose Hollywood/Netflix-style escapades captured national attention, fled SA after an elaborate plan that sprung Bester out of prison was uncovered. Bester faked his death and escaped, allegedly with the help of Magudumana, a socialite and disbarred medical doctor.
Bester is widely known in SA as the “Facebook rapist”. He was convicted for the rape and robbery of women he lured using the social media platform. He promised young and attractive women non-existent careers as models.
In 2011 and 2012 Bester pleaded guilty to two charges of rape and one of murder in separate trials. He was sentenced to an effective life sentence and was held at the Mangaung Maximum Security Prison, where he escaped in May last year.
Bester’s elaborate plan was exposed by the investigative journalism of GroundUp.
The publication exclusively disclosed that Bester, who was thought to have died in a fire in his prison cell, was in fact living the high life in Johannesburg with Magudumana.
Magudumana, who claimed to be Bester’s “customary wife”, had attempted to claim the charred bodily remains found in Bester’s cell. The SA government has confirmed that the body found in the cell was not that of Bester.
A case of murder is under investigation following the outcome of the DNA analysis that confirmed that the body of the deceased which was found, was not of Thabo Bester.
Several sources in the criminal justice system said there were plans to hold Bester at the Kokstad Maximum Prison, notorious for its no-nonsense approach to security.
