The so-called “Facebook rapist” has been sentenced to 50 years in prison, after pleading guilty to two charges of rape and two charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances.
Thabo “Thomas” Bester was sentenced in the Durban Magistrates Court, on Friday, in connection with crimes he committed against two women in the Durban area in August.
Bester, who police said used up to 13 different aliases, was dubbed the “Facebook rapist”, as a result of his use of the social networking site to lure women by promising lucrative modelling and TV jobs.
After an extensive manhunt, Bester was arrested on 5 October, in Alberton, south of Johannesburg, in connection with more than 30 cases of rape, kidnapping, murder and theft.
Crocodile tears
According to reports, Bester burst into tears in court while explaining the circumstances that led him to commit the crimes.
He said he had never met his parents, and that he lived with his alcoholic grandmother in Gauteng. He also claimed he had been raped when he was young by a family friend, and again by someone who had promised to take care of him when he was living in a squatter camp.
"I resorted to crime to support myself. It is either you die or make a plan," he told the court.
fraud in 2009 and sentenced to six months in jail. He said he could not afford the optional R1 500 fine. According to Bester, he was gang-raped in prison and treated badly by the other inmates, because he appeared to be from a well-off family.
Bester was again found guilty of fraud in March this year, but was given a two-year suspended sentence.
Reports say Bester pleaded for a second chance in court, stating it wasn't his intention to rape the women, but that he was compelled by lust.
Gauteng case postponed
While some reports have stated that Bester was expected to be taken to Gauteng over the weekend in order to face the other charges, police spokesman Colonel Vishnu Naidoo says the case set to be heard in Boksburg has been postponed to 7 December. As such, Bester is still being held in Durban.
“In the meantime, good progress is being made regarding investigations of other cases, including the murder in Cape Town,” says Naidoo.
Bester is the prime suspect in the murder of a Johannesburg woman, Nomfundo Tyulu, who was found dead at a B&B near Cape Town, on 23 September. Tyulu had been stabbed in the chest.
On the same day that Tyulu's body was found by police, Bester updated his Facebook status with: “Catch me if you can.... Why are people bothering me.” (sic) The Facebook profile has since been removed.
Bester is alleged to have committed crimes in KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape and Gauteng, but Naidoo says he cannot yet confirm whether Bester will appear in Cape Town.
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