rapist,' Thabo Bester, was sentenced to 50 years
imprisonment on Friday for raping and robbing
two women. Speaking in mitigation of his
sentence, he told the court he had been raped by his grandmother's friend when he was young, raped several times by a man who promised to look after him, and that he was gang-raped in prison.
He said he had never seen his parents and that
he lived under excruciating conditions with his alcoholic grandmother and grandfather on a farm in Gauteng. He said he was raped by his grandmother's friend, and that
when he told his grandmother about the abuse, it was like talking to a wall. "My grandmother's
friend hurt me when he raped me, and I had an
operation on my behind."
The situation became worse when his grandmother died, and he had to live with his friends in a squatter camp.
While living there he was approached by a man
who promised to look after him, but who had
then locked him in his house for days and raped him.
Bester told the court the difficulties he encountered forced him to commit crime. "I resorted to crime to support myself. It is either you die or make a plan," he said.
He had been found guilty of fraud in 2009 and sentenced to six months in jail with an option of
paying a R1500 fine. "I did not have money to
pay. They treated me badly in prison because they thought I was from a well-off
family."
He had been gang-raped. A bottle with soapy water was inserted into his anus while he was in prison.
The report about his prison abuse was presented
in court on Friday. It only mentioned the abuse,
but not the rapes.
Seeking to persuade the court to give him a
lesser sentence, Bester said he needed a second chance. "I know I have done terrible things.
This is not truly who I am. I want the opportunity to put things right," he said. If the court felt he did not deserve mercy, he would accept it.
During cross-examination, State prosecutor, Lolly Soobramany, asked Bester why he did not hand himself over after he contacted the investigating officer. Bester said he had wanted to surrender to police, but became scared and ran when he saw the story about his crimes in the newspapers. He said he knew he was sought across the country for crimes including
murder.
Soobramany described Bester as a danger to
society, saying what he had done had caused trauma to his victims which would stay with
them for the rest of their lives. Bester, who used aliases including Thomas, was arrested last Wednesday in Alberton, south of
Johannesburg.
He was dubbed the "Facebook rapist" because he used social media to lure women. He told them international modelling scouts were interested in them and then met them in person. Bester would then rape and rob them at knife- point.
He was expected to be taken to Gauteng at the
weekend to face other charges there, including murder
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