![]() ![]() Bester, calling himself “Tom Motsepe”, posed as the chairman of 21st Century Media, a scam event and digital media company, which was made to look like a subsidiary of 21st Century Fox. Running multi-million-rand scams from prisonĮven during his incarceration, Bester continued his scams right from his maximum security prison cell. A man (shades and green hoodie) closely resembling “Facebook rapist” Thabo Bester was seen out shopping in Sandton, Johannesburg, almost two months after he supposedly burnt to death in his cell where he was serving a life sentence for rape and murder (Image source: Groundup)Īll this evidence was shared by GroundUp with the relevant authorities, but no follow-up investigation was conducted at the time. Perhaps, the most intriguing piece of the alleged demise of Bester was the photos from June 2022, almost two months after his supposed death, which show a man who looks like the convicted rapist and murderer shopping in Sandton City, Johannesburg. However, at the edge of the frame of footage captured on a CCTV camera that night, two people could be seen hastily exiting the prison. m., seconds before the smoke was first reported. The CCTV cameras pointing to the exit of the prison were apparently not at the correct angle at 2:59:50 a. However, that cell was rarely ever used as it was difficult for CCTV cameras to see into it. ![]() To start with, the charred body’s height at the time of the autopsy was 1.45m, but in a police mugshot, Bester stood taller, at just over 1.7m.Īdditionally, a source told GroundUp that before the fire broke out, a prison official placed Bester in a corner cell by himself. There remained a number of gaps in the story about Bester’s supposed demise on that fateful morning of May 3, 2022. Stab wounds were also identified on the body.Īccording to a source who spoke with GroundUp, they allegedly spoke to Bester a few days before he died in which they observed him being “uncharacteristically happy” and even mentioning that he would be “going away soon”, an utterance the source found odd as Bester was serving a life sentence.Īfter the fire, SAPS Free State spokesperson Brigadier Motantsi Makhele, confirmed that DNA samples were taken from the body after the fire, and also said it was “still to be confirmed” whether the body was indeed Bester’s.Īfter the post-mortem report, which noted a “strong smell of accelerant (paraffin)” from the body’s trachea and bronchi, the police docket relating to the matter was changed from suicide to murder. However, a post-mortem report confirmed that the body found charred in the cell, which to that point was believed to be Bester’s, had succumbed to blunt force trauma injuries to the head and not the fire itself. Initially, Bester’s death was thought by police to likely be a suicide by self-imolation. As required by law, an inquest docket was opened and there is cooperation with authorities in that regard,” said DCS spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo at the time. ![]() “We are able to confirm that the inmate in question passed away on May 3, 2022. Even the BBC reported the supposed death of Bester. A mattress had been set alight in the cell in which Bester had been isolated and a body was found beneath it, burnt beyond recognition.Īt the time, the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) announced that the body found in the cell was indeed that of Bester, a “fact” which was widely repeated by South African media. On at around 3 a.m., an officer at the maximum security correctional facility where Bester was incarcerated reported smoke coming from Bester’s cell. Bester lured women by promising them international modelling gigs via the social media site, after which he robbed and raped them at knifepoint. He was serving a life sentence for murder and a series of rapes, a sentence passed in 2012. The prisoner in question was Thabo Bester, infamously known as the “ Facebook Rapist”. “Are you aware that the inmate who ‘allegedly’ burnt to death at Mangaung Correctional Centre was supposedly assisted to escape by the Mangaung Correctional Centre & Department of Correctional Services officials at the prison to escape?” he asked. According to independent digital publication Groundup, on June 11, 2022, a prison warden at the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein, South Africa, sent an email to the South African Deputy Minister of Correctional Services, Phathekile Holomisa, with the question. ![]()
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