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Escapee Thabo Bester, also known as the “Facebook Rapist,” has been apprehended by Tanzanian authorities along with his accomplice Dr Nandipha Magudumana and a Mozambican national.
The arrests were confirmed by South African Minister of Police and Minister of Justice and Correctional Services on Saturday, April 8.
Bester had escaped from Mangaung prison and were the subject of a nationwide manhunt.
According to police spokesperson Lirandzu Themba, detectives from the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) and the Organised Crime Investigations (OCI) units in the Free State and Gauteng provinces were appointed to work round the clock on the investigation, with track and tracing teams of Correctional Services and Crime Intelligence.
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.
The autopsy report went on to further reveal that the deceased had died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head, and was already dead, prior to the arson incident.
“We are confident that we will receive maximum cooperation from our sister nation of Tanzania, to assist us to bring these fugitives to justice. The level cooperation has been exemplary thus far,” said Themba.
The news of Bester’s escape had caused outrage across South Africa, with many questioning how a convicted rapist could live a luxury life in Johannesburg in plain sight.
The fugitive had been positively identified in a picture taken at a shopping center in Sandton alongside his partner in crime, Dr Nandipha Magudumana.
