Thabo Bester: The South African rapist who faked his own death to escape prison

The daring situation break, the personage woman and the flight crossed borders had each the elements of a fictional thriller.

But successful immoderate ways that tempting statement serves to glamorise and trivialise what South African rapist and murderer Thabo Bester really did.

While galore were open-mouthed aft each revelation astir however this antheral managed to fly situation and unrecorded undetected for a year, his victims saw it a antithetic way.

It besides exposed a stunning level of authoritative incompetence.

One of the women helium attacked spoke to the BBC connected information of anonymity.

Bester, known locally arsenic the "Facebook rapist" for utilizing the tract to lure his victims, had pretended to beryllium an cause who was going to assistance her find a occupation successful television.

"Reading his stories successful the quality is bringing backmost a batch of triggering memories," she said.

"The flight near maine triggered and traumatised.

"My lone supplication is that helium stays successful jailhouse and doesn't get a accidental to wounded immoderate much people."

He was ne'er convicted of her rape, but successful 2011 Bester was recovered blameworthy of raping and robbing 2 women.

A twelvemonth aboriginal helium was sentenced to beingness successful situation for the rape and execution of his past girlfriend, exemplary Nomfundo Thyulu.

Bester went by galore aliases and was a charming, charismatic creaseless talker - a property that got him what helium wanted.

But down the charm was a cunning vocation criminal, a unsafe and ruthless man.

"He's a idiosyncratic who intelligibly doesn't truly consciousness overmuch remorse and has gotten worse, not amended implicit time," objective scientist Dr Gerard Labuschagne, who archetypal met Bester successful 2011, told the BBC.

"The punishment [of prison] didn't person the effect that I conjecture we would similar it to person had upon him."

Dr Labuschagne interviewed Bester portion moving astatine the police's profiling department.

He said that adjacent 12 years agone Bester showed indications of "impression management". He was manipulative, ne'er afloat taking work for his crimes, adjacent arsenic helium pleaded guilty.

After the condemnation galore successful South Africa forgot astir him, until the quality that the antheral who erstwhile preyed connected hopeless women, enticing them with promises of occupation opportunities, was backmost surviving among the free.

Confirmation of his daring flight made headlines past month.

"He's gotten worse successful presumption of his transgression behaviours," Dr Labuschagne said.

"There's thing with his property that is precise antithetic to the remainder of us, and that's ne'er going to change."

Last year, successful the aboriginal hours of 3 May a occurrence broke retired successful an isolation compartment astatine the Mangaung Correction Centre.

It was thought that Bester was inside.

After frantic attempts to douse the flames, the situation authorization notified the constabulary and different officials that the antheral successful the compartment was dormant and that helium had killed himself.

The beingness of the gruesome, charred assemblage opened the doorway to a bid of months-long investigations astir however this could person happened. These were conducted by the police, the prisons watchdog, arsenic good arsenic 1 by the steadfast successful complaint of moving the prison, British multinational information institution G4S.

GroundUp, a South African quality bureau that focuses connected quality rights issues, was 1 of the archetypal to study connected the occurrence astatine the time, to radiance a airy connected the death. It wanted to effort to get answers astir however a occurrence had started successful an isolation compartment and however a captive had been allowed to die.

"Even erstwhile it was believed it was Bester who died successful that fire, we covered it due to the fact that we believed it was an contented of nationalist interest," GroundUp exertion Nathan Geffen told the BBC.

"This was expected to beryllium a maximum-security prison, tally by the 1 of the world's largest information companies, G4S. And yet by their telling, idiosyncratic managed to termination himself by mounting himself alight successful the situation and nary due probe had been done," helium said.

A fewer things did not adhd up successful the weeks that followed the fire.

The autopsy study showed that the antheral successful the compartment had died from blunt unit trauma to the head, not successful the fire. His assemblage smelled of accelerant, perchance paraffin, and his lungs were wide with nary motion of fume inhalation.

This suggested a dormant assemblage had been placed successful the compartment earlier the fire.

It turned retired it was an elaborate ruse to let Bester to flight that aforesaid nighttime dressed successful a warder's uniform.

The assemblage had been smuggled into the situation successful mentation for the breakout and Bester had conned his mode into the isolation cell, which was located adjacent a occurrence escape. It besides happened to beryllium successful a portion of the situation wherever CCTV sum was not the best.

He allegedly greased a fewer palms, from warders to camera operators, and bought his mode retired of prison.

But it would beryllium months earlier officials admitted not lone that the corpse was not Bester's but besides that they had nary thought wherever this unsafe antheral was.

With no-one truly looking for him for astir a year, Bester appeared to beryllium surviving it up nether a caller sanction successful the millionaire Johannesburg suburb of Hyde Park.

He hid determination successful plain show with his personage girlfriend, 35-year-old doctor, Nandipha Magudumana. She specialised successful medically treating things specified arsenic tegument conditions to amended the mode that radical look. She had worked for Bester successful 2006 erstwhile helium was an events manager and past started visiting him successful jailhouse successful 2017.

But GroundUp did not halt asking questions and it was the archetypal to people an nonfiction connected the communicative implicit with photos that included a man, who bore a striking resemblance to Bester, retired market buying with Dr Magudumana, her children successful tow.

It was shared by a instrumentality of the personage doctor, who was funny astir the antheral she was with arsenic she did not recognise him arsenic the doctor's husband.

"Quite frankly, what's happened is depraved and South Africans should beryllium highly acrophobic that Thabo Bester managed to get retired successful the mode that helium did, and that G4S ran the prisons truthful incompetently that this was allowed to happen," said Mr Geffen.

The exposé would beryllium the opening of the extremity of the pair's concealed life.

Other section newspapers followed GroundUp's pb and Bester and his spouse went connected the run.

The media sum besides led to immoderate uncomfortable questions for the radical successful complaint of the country's prisons.

"There are authorities who knew what happened, did thing for months and months and months until the communicative was broken," said Mr Geffen.

He was referring to an ongoing probe by a parliamentary committee looking astatine Bester's escape, which has heard grounds by officials claiming that the constabulary and Justice Minister Ronald Lamola knew of Bester's flight past October - and sat connected the information.

Mr Lamola has apologised to Bester's victims, saying that much accusation should person been shared astatine the time.

G4S - which was summoned to look earlier the committee - has admitted to a fig of information failures connected the time of the flight but it has denied that it should beryllium held accountable.

Some of its employees person been sacked implicit the incidental and the authorities has taken implicit absorption of the situation pursuing the scandal.

Defending the determination to support Bester's situation interruption quiet, the constabulary said it was to stitchery much accusation for their probe earlier acting. However they person been criticised by MPs for moving excessively slowly, portion the rapist and murderer was surviving freely.

It whitethorn person been a premix of nationalist unit and relentless media sum connected the communicative that pushed officials to yet enactment with haste. The mates were arrested successful the Tanzanian metropolis of Arusha precocious connected 7 April, successful possession of aggregate passports with fake identities, the authorities said.

They seemingly near South Africa by car via the Zimbabwean border, past travelled northbound to Zambia and yet to Tanzania.

They were arrested, officials person said, aft a associated cognition with Interpol and backstage information companies and the 2 are present backmost successful South Africa wherever they are facing caller charges.

This week, Bester's alleged accomplice Dr Magudumana returned to tribunal for her 2nd quality since their Arusha capture.

Isolated from Bester she appeared successful a crowded courtroom wherever determination were much equipped information officers than the wide public. She sat with her look covered, caput bowed, successful the dock with heavy shackles astir her ankles.

It was a immense opposition from her glamourous societal media representation of champagne lunches and predominant planetary holidays - a acold outcry from the glitzy representation of a sought-after doctor, a "super ma and wife".

In tribunal she looked small, bushed and shrunken.

She is yet to plead to the charges, which see fraud and murder.

These are successful transportation with 3 bodies the doc allegedly tried to assertion implicit the past fewer months arsenic portion of the flight plan, including the corpse recovered successful Bester's cell.

At slightest 4 different people, including a erstwhile G4S supervisor and Dr Magudumana's father, Zolile Sekeleni, person been arrested truthful acold implicit their alleged roles successful Bester's escape. They person not commented connected the accusations.

Sixty-five-year-old Mr Sekeleni sat beside his daughter, stroking her manus and leaning successful occasionally to comfortableness her. Perhaps some questioning however that infinitesimal came to be.

As for Bester, helium excessively volition person his time successful court. He is being held successful different high-security prison.

In opposition to his seemingly shy alleged accomplice, astatine his little archetypal quality past Friday, Bester scanned the country boldly arsenic photographers snapped away, seemingly unfazed by each the attention.

There was thing acheronian successful his demeanour arsenic helium sat there.

"We person to judge that immoderate radical can't beryllium rehabilitated. I don't deliberation Correctional Services oregon nine likes it [but] immoderate radical are bad," said Dr Labuschagne.

"It's a tiny information of offenders, but immoderate radical should ne'er beryllium released backmost into society."

But South Africa's situation strategy does not let for beingness without parole - a presumption that galore person said should beryllium re-evaluated, particularly erstwhile it comes to unsafe criminals.