Thabo Bester (born 13 June 1986) is a convicted criminal who escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in South Africa after faking his death in 2022.
He was on the run for a year before being caught in Arusha, Tanzania on 8 April 2023. He was arrested along with his partner Dr. Nandipha Magudumana. Bester was known as the “Facebook rapist” and was convicted of rape and murder.
Imprisoned at Kgosi Mampuru II Management Area. He became infamous for his criminal activities and con artistry. While imprisoned, he ran a scam construction company called Arum Properties with Magudumana, convincing several people to pay millions of rand for construction projects but never delivered the goods.
He was believed to have died by self-immolation in his prison cell in May 2022 and was at large for a year until a new post-mortem investigation revealed that the burnt body found in his cell was not his. Following this revelation, a manhunt was launched in March 2023.
Before his incarceration, he had been found guilty of several crimes, including murder and defilement charges committed against women he had met via Facebook. He was convicted in 2012 for assaulting and killing Nomfundo Tyhulu, his model girlfriend. In 2011, he was found guilty of robbing and defiling two other women. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Bester, was never officially documented as a South African citizen with the Department of Home Affairs. Minister Motsoaledi said that when Bester was caught in Tanzania last week, he was found in possession of an American passport under the guise of Tom Williams Kelly. Motsoaledi said this was due to issues around Bester’s complicated upbringing, and that his mother, Maria Mabaso, was never able to register Bester after giving birth to him at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital on 13 June 1986.
Bester escaped from Mangaung Correctional Services on 3 May 2022 after faking his death by placing a body in his jail cell and setting it alight.
The escape came to light after the Correctional Services Department confirmed that the charred body was not a DNA match for Bester.
The private security firm, Fidelity, took to Facebook to offer a R100 000 award for any information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the so-called Facebook rapist.
