‘Show him no leniency’

The mother of one of the victims of the “Facebook rapist” urged the court to show no leniency and to give him the longest sentence possible.

At the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, Thabo Bester, 23, pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and two of robbery with aggravated circumstances.

Bester who allegedly used several aliases, including Thomas Bester, Thomas Magagula and Kelly Young, apologised for his actions and asked the court for mercy.

Bester used Facebook to lure, rape and rob models.

Speaking to the Daily News after court was adjourned, Penny, whose daughter was lured from Johannesburg to Durban where she was raped, said Bester showed no leniency when he raped his victims and none should be shown to him when he is sentenced.

“My daughter is taking things one day at a time but this ordeal has taken a toll on her, he ruined her life.”

Penny, who started a Facebook page a week after her daughter’s rape to warn others about Bester, said she would not have stayed strong were it not for the Hawks and Enforce security investigators who kept in contact with her.

“It’s not often that police keep in touch with the victim’s family, but these guys kept me abreast of what was happening in the investigation.”

Head of Enforce investigations division, Nico Potgieter, said they played a supportive role acting as a middle man between the victim’s family and police.

“We also provided information that we got from our informants to police. When he (Bester) was in Durban he was moving around with certain circles of people and we got this from our informants.”

Bester was arrested in Alberton, outside Johannesburg, last week, after allegedly kidnapping a young woman.

Yesterday in his plea read out by his attorney, Narendra Narotam, Bester said his intention was to rob his first victim, but when she arrived at their agreed meeting place with her boyfriend, Bester was forced to make up a story to lure her to Durban.

“I put up a post on FHM’s website about a model and presenter competition and the complainant replied to my personal e-mail saying she was interested. We arranged to meet at the SABC canteen the following day,” he said.

According to the plea, he told her she needed to come with him to Durban for a photoshoot and if she did well she would get the job.

Bester and the first victim drove together to Durban in her car.

He said on August 19 they booked into a hotel in Umhlanga and while the complainant was bathing he went to the Gateway mall and bought duct tape as well as a small kitchen knife.

“When I came back she was dressed. I tied her up with the duct tape and started rummaging through her stuff and took her cellphone, credit cards and car keys,” he said.

When he was about to leave the hotel, Bester said, he was “tempted sexually” and raped her.

He said after the incident he went to the Metro Hotel in Mahatma Gandhi Street (Point Road) where he tried to commit suicide.

Bester said he met the second complainant through his girlfriend. When his girlfriend left them alone he took her to a guest house in Westville under the pretence he would help her rehearse some lines for an interview to be held in Cape Town.

He said later that evening they went for supper at the Pavilion mall where they started “romancing each other and kissed”. Bester said in his plea that when they returned to the guest house they slept together.

He said on the morning of August 26, he walked into the room with a knife and told the second victim to be quiet before taking her cellphone, credit card, watch and cash and then raped her.

“I took her stuff and went to withdraw money using her pin number. My intention was to rape her and I enter into this plea voluntarily. I am sorry for what I did and ask this court for mercy.”

Narotam asked that the court wait for a psychiatrist’s report before sentencing.

The matter was adjourned to tomorrow for the State to receive details of Bester’s previous fraud conviction.