The manhunt for the “Facebook Rapist” began with an absurd chase and ended with an even more absurd conclusion.
Thabo Bester, the “Facebook Rapist,” was supposed to spend the rest of his life in prison. As it turned out, not only was he a free man after faking his death and escaping from a maximum security prison, but he was living better than most, staying with his celebrity doctor girlfriend.
On April 7, Bester was busted in Tanzania with his girlfriend, Dr. Nandipha Magudumana. They, along with another person, were ready to cross the border into Kenya with several passports in their possession, South African Police Minister Bheki Cele told reporters, The BBC reported.
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As News Onyx previously reported, the Facebook Rapist escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Center in Bloemfontein, South Africa, by faking his death and using someone else’s charred remains as a substitute for his own.
The Facebook Rapist is a convicted man serving a life sentence for the rape, robbery, and murder of a model he victimized in 2012, but Bester has allegedly lured many victims onto the social media platform where he raped and robbed them.
What triggered the month-long manhunt was an autopsy that revealed the body was not Bester.
Bester remained at large for a year after it was believed he had died by setting himself on fire.
Understandably, the women of South Africa were upset and alarmed by his escape, having to put up with a criminal justice system so corrupt that a serial rapist could escape from a maximum security prison.
Some women have claimed that Bester has been shopping in public, and some have said that the Facebook rapist has returned to Facebook and is talking to new women.
It was not clear how he managed to use someone else’s dead body to escape prison, but some suspect Magudumana, expected to be charged for murder, fraud, helping Bester escape and “violation of bodies,” had something to do with the exaggerated escape.
Dear #DrNandiphaMagudumana do you know how many young girls and women who were looking up to you as their role model and source of inspiration? What must they do now? pic.twitter.com/ms83fBreeT
— Mzilikazi wa Afrika (@IamMzilikazi) April 13, 2023
Magudumana is reportedly an attractive doctor and businesswoman who is adored by many with an Instagram page that has more than 146,000 followers, The New York Post reported.
She was also named one of the 200 Young South Africans by U.K. publisher Mail & Guardian.
The doctor’s father, Zolile Cornelius Sekeleni, and a former prison warden, Senohe Matsoara, have been charged with murder, arson and aiding and abetting Bester’s escape.
In addition, two more people have been arrested in connection to the Facebook Rapist’s escape.
Bester has been taken to a high-security prison in the capital, Pretoria, with new charges.
