Tanzania deported one of South Africa’s most-wanted fugitives, the rapist and murderer Thabo Bester, who faked his death in prison and fled to the East African state.
Bester was flown to South Africa in a specially chartered plane, following his arrest in Tanzania last week.
His girlfriend, celebrity doctor Nandipha Magudumana, who was arrested with him, has also been deported.
Her father has been charged with helping Bester escape from prison.
Bester was at large for a year after it was thought he died by setting himself on fire in his prison cell in the South African city of Bloemfontein.
A manhunt was launched last month after a new post-mortem investigation revealed the body was not actually his.
The celebrity doctor’s father, Zolile Sekeleni, and a suspended prison warden, Senohe Matsoara, have been charged with murder, arson, and aiding and abetting Bester’s escape.
The two men appeared in a magistrate’s court in Bloemfontein earlier this week.
They were not asked to plead, and no further details were given of the charges.
Following his shocking prison break.
He is known as the “Facebook rapist” for using social networking site to lure his victims.
He was convicted in 2012 for the rape and murder of his model girlfriend Nomfundo Tyhulu.
A year earlier, he was found guilty of raping and robbing two other women.
Bester’s escape sparked outrage in South Africa, which has one of the highest rates of sexual assault in the world.
UK-owned security company G4S was running the prison from where Bester escaped.
The prison’s management has been taken over by South African prison officials, pending the outcome of an investigation into Bester’s escape.
A parliamentary committee summoned G4S to appear before MPs to account for Bester’s escape.
The South African government confirmed Thursday that Bester is in custody at the Kgosi Mampuru II Central Maximum correctional facility in Salvokop in Pretoria.
Bester, also known as the “Facebook rapist“, was brought back to the country Thursday morning alongside his fugitive customary wife, Dr. Magudumana.
The pair were arrested in Arusha, Tanzania about ten kilometers from the Kenyan border after they fled from South Africa days ago.
Speaking at a media briefing, Ministers Bheki Cele and Ronald Lamola said Magudumana will appear in a Bloemfontein court Thursday, IOL said.
She faces charges of aiding and abetting an escaped prisoner, murder, violation of bodies and fraud.
The charges against Bester are yet to be confirmed.
National Commissioner of the Department of Correctional Services, Makgothi Thobakgale, said Bester was sent to the Kgosi Mampuru II Central Maximum Correctional facility because of its safety.
“This is so he doesn’t harm himself or others harm him. There are different sections in the facility. He is also under 24/7 surveillance and we have 24/7 contact with him. There are highly trained officers guarding him,” he said.
To date, according to IOL, police have arrested three people and taken one in for questioning over Bester’s escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in May 2021.
This week, a 44-year-old man was arrested and is due to appear in court today.
He is an employee contracted to a company that installs and maintains cameras at the Mangaung Correctional Centre, and he faces a charge of aiding and abetting a convicted prisoner to escape from lawful custody, defeating the ends of justice, as well as violation of a dead body.
A man has also been taken in for questioning after he was found with a white Porsche Cayenne believed to belong to Magudumana.
Last week, Senohe Ishmael Matsoara, 39, and Zolile Cornelius Sekeleni, 65, were arrested on charges of assisting an inmate to escape from lawful custody, defeating the ends of justice, fraud, murder, and arson.
Sekeleni is Magudumana’s father.
This brings the number of people arrested, including Bester and Magudumana, to five.
