Global Courant 2023-04-14 18:43:53
A notorious killer who escaped from prison by faking his own death has been recaptured in South Africa after living in his doctor girlfriend’s villa for nearly a year.
Thabo Bester, otherwise known as the ‘Facebook rapist,’ has been arrested in Tanzania along with Dr. Nandipha Magudumana earlier in the week.
African Police Minister Bheki Cele told reporters that the couple and another person caught with them had several passports and were ready to cross the border into Kenya.
Bestor was escorted to Johannesburg by armed guards while his girlfriend Magudumana followed him in another van.
He will be charged with murder as part of a sophisticated escape plot in which a dead body was planted in the prison, with which Bester staged his own death in a fire and then escaped.
A prison guard said Magudumana’s father has already been charged with murder in connection with the body found burned in Bester’s cell.
Police said the unidentified man died from blunt force trauma to the head.
Bester was convicted of a murder and two rapes of his ex-girlfriend, model Nomfundo Tyhulu. He was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 75 years in 2012.
He was known as the ‘Facebook rapist’ for his tendency to use social media to lure victims to his home and then rape them.
While Magudumana, is a well-known doctor and businesswoman, who has over 100,000 followers on the Instagram network.
In 2018, the doctor was announced by the network Mail & Guardian as one of the 200 most influential young South Africans.
Bester staged his escape from Mangaung prison a year ago, when he was pronounced dead by suicide in his cell.
The details have only become public in recent days as critics say officials were trying to cover up the incident.
The news caused widespread public interest, which led Bester and Magudumana to leave the country, as well as criticism of the government for not acting against dangerous criminals on the run.
Thabo Bester, has been arrested in Tanzania together with Dr. Nandipha Magudumana earlier in the week.
Global Courantl
