a prisoner who had been escaped for almost a year was arrested in Tanzania

The police believed in his death for almost a year. Thabo Bester, a rapist and killer sentenced to life in prison in 2012, was apprehended in Tanzania, the South African government announced on Saturday April 8. The latter had been wanted since Monday March 27, after having faked his own death during his escape from a private prison in Bloemfontein in May 2022. But the South African police did not realize the subterfuge until March 2023.

South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola announced on Saturday the arrest of Thabo Bester, along with “his accomplice, Dr. Nandipha Maguduma(na), as well as a Mozambican national were arrested in Tanzania”, he said during a press briefing. Police Minister Bheki Cele said the three men were arrested in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha, near the Kenyan border, as they tried to leave the country.

A scenario worthy of a thriller

For nearly a year, prison authorities believed Thabo Bester was dead after setting himself on fire behind bars. But in late March 2023, police realized the charred body found in his cell was not his, thanks to DNA test results. An investigation was then opened for murder, because the autopsy revealed that the body found in the cell of the criminal had died of the consequences of a cranial trauma, before being set on fire. For now, the identity of the body remains unknown.

In 2012, he was sentenced to life in prison for rape, robbery and murder. Nicknamed “the rapist of Facebook”, Thabo Bester lured his victims on social networks before raping and robbing them. At least one victim was killed.