Security firm offers R100 000 reward for info that will lead to Facebook rapist’s arrest and conviction

Private security firm, Fidelty ADT, is offering a R100 000 reward for information that will lead to the arrest and conviction of escape rapist and murderer, Thabo Bester.

Fidelty ADT is offering a R100 000 reward for information that will lead to the arrest and conviction of escape rapist and murderer, Thabo Bester.

Private security firm Fidelty ADT has offered a R10 000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of escaped rapist and murderer, Thabo Bester.

Also known as the ‘Facebook rapist’, Bester fled from the Mangaung Correctional Centre, managed by the G4S Correction Services (South Africa).

“Help us bring this criminal to book. We are offering R100 000 to anyone who can provide us with information that leads to the successful arrest and conviction of Thabo Bester,” read the post on the company’s Facebook page.

Bester was sentenced for the murder of model, Nomfundo Tyhulu and the rapes of two women – all of whom he lured via Facebook under the pretence of being a model scout.

Last year, the Department of Correctional Services issued a statement saying that Bester had died after starting a fire in his single cell at the facility. A charred body was also found in the cell.

Bester’s prison bust came to light following a woman’s claim that he was spotted at a shopping centre in Sandton last year, barely two months after he supposedly died.

The Department of Correctional Services then confirmed that Bester had escaped in May last year, and that the body found inside his cell, belonged to someone else. A murder investigation is underway to establish whose body was dumped in Bester’s cell.

G4S Correction Services (South Africa) said it was awaiting the outcome of the SAPS investigation. It said three employees had since the escape been dismissed.

DCS national commissioner, Makgothi Thobakgale, said the findings and recommendation of a report into the matter, pointed to the fact that the Director of Mangaung Correctional Centre Director of Mangaung Correctional Centre had lost effective control of the facility. He said the Correctional Services Act provides for a mechanism to restore safety and security by taking control of the correctional centre by means of appointing a temporary manager.

“A track and tracing team is hard at work looking for Thabo Bester and we continue to appeal to those who may have information or leads to come forward. We remain confident that we shall arrest the fugitive and bring him to justice. No stone will be left unturned in getting to the bottom of this incident,” Thobakgale said.

IOL