Caryn Dolley
THABO Bester, the alleged “Facebook rapist” accused of murdering a model in Milnerton, may face two more charges in Cape Town.
Bester, 22, of Meadowlands, Soweto, appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court yesterday charged with murdering 26-year-old model Nomfundo Tyulu in a Sunset Beach B&B in September.
Dressed in a brown jersey, grey tracksuit pants and with his ankles shackled, Bester appeared calm, confident and suave as he was led from the holding cells into the dock.
Bester, who spoke audibly in clear English, said he would make use of a legal aid attorney.
Throughout proceedings he stared ahead and appeared to have a faint smile on his face.
State prosecutor Warda Steyn said investigations into Tyulu’s murder had been completed. She said it had since come to the State’s attention that there were two further charges linked to Bester, and these were being investigated.
Steyn said Bester’s case may be transferred to the Western Cape High Court.
Bester was not asked to plead in the packed courtroom.
His case was postponed and he had no option of being released on bail as he was already serving a sentence handed down in Durban last month.
After yesterday’s court proceedings, National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Eric Ntabazalila said there was no further information available on the two additional charges Bester could face aside from the murder charge.
Tyulu’s body, with a stab wound to the chest, was found in a room in Ocean Breeze Villa, a Sunset Beach B&B.
According to court documents, she was killed there on September 22.
Aside from Tyulu’s murder, Bester was suspected of a string of crimes in Cape Town, Durban and Gauteng.
He allegedly went by at least 13 aliases, the most common being Thomas Bester.
On his arrest warrant Thomas Bester was written as his name, while on his charge sheet he was named as Thabo Bester.
Last month he was sentenced to 50 years’ imprisonment in the Durban Regional Court for raping and robbing two models.
He had pleaded guilty to the charges.
After months of evading police, Bester was arrested in Alberton last month while allegedly kidnapping a woman.
He was expected to appear in the Alberton Magistrate’s Court on December 7 in connection with this.
Previously national police spokesman Vish Naidoo said at least 30 cases involving Bester had been opened.
According to police, Bester had pretended to be a businessman and had targeted young women interested in modelling and television work.
Bester, who police said had various accounts on Facebook under different names and who had posted photographs of himself on the social network, then allegedly either stole from them or stayed at upmarket hotels with the women, but left them to foot the bill.
Bester is expected to appear in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court again on December 19.