Department admits Facebook rapist escaped | Rhewal

Thabo Bester during his trial more than ten years ago. (Photo: Provided)

The Department of Correctional Services admitted on Saturday that the notorious Facebook rapist and convicted murderer Thabo Bester indeed escaped from a Bloemfontein prison on 3 May last year.

“At this stage it is of the utmost importance that Thabo Bester is tracked down.

“The department appeals to the public to come forward with information that could lead to Bester’s arrest. Such information can be reported to the nearest police station or correctional facility.”

The department further says that they will leave no stone unturned to find out how Bester escaped and who helped him.

“There will be serious consequences for anyone involved.”

The department said last year that Bester, who was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 75 years, burned to death in his prison cell after the body of a badly charred man was found in it. The cause was initially labeled as suicide.

However, photos of a man who looks a lot like Bester recently surfaced, while there were also several contradictions in the post-mortem report – among other things, that the deceased was shorter than Bester and died due to a hard blow to the head. There were also no signs of smoke inhalation, while the deceased’s spleen and pancreas were already in an early stage of decomposition at the time of the find. DNA tests of the burned body also showed no matches with the DNA of Bester’s biological mother.

Photo of a person who people believe is Thabo Bester, the so-called Facebook rapist. This photo was taken at a Woolworths in Johannesburg. (Photo: GroudUp/Provided)

“Given this information, the plausible conclusion is that the body in question is not that of Thabo Bester. It is on the basis of this that the department found in its investigation report that Bester escaped from legal custody on 3 May 2022.”

According to the department, the police’s investigation into the incident continues separately.

The department maintained until last week that they did not have the post-mortem report and that the investigation into the fire incident was continuing. However, GroundUp reported that the report already the day after Bester’s alleged death last year dealt with is and has long been part of public court documents.