He is already serving an effective 50 years behind bars for two rapes committed in Durban and is awaiting trial for murder in the Western Cape High Court.
Now, to add to this, so-called “Facebook Rapist” Thabo Bester faces a new legal battle – this time for fraud, involving allegations that he did not pay his bill at a local hotel.
Bester was dubbed the “Facebook Rapist” after allegations that he used the social media platform to lure and charm women.
He also taunted police with “catch me if you can” messages.
Bester is to make his first appearance in connection with the fraud case in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Friday, a source has confirmed.
The details of the alleged offence are not clear, but the source told the Cape Argus that the hotel was within the jurisdiction of the court in Wynberg.
Meanwhile, Bester will be tried for the murder in July after a proposed plea bargain he has been negotiating with the State did not materialise in the Western Cape High Court on Thursday.
The plea bargain was supposed to have been concluded on Wednesday but could not proceed because the State needed to verify details of his previous brushes with the law.
However, when the matter returned to court on Thursday, prosecutor Samantha Raphels told Judge André le Grange that the plea bargain could not go ahead because the parties could not reach consensus on a sentence.
She did not elaborate and requested that the case be postponed for trial to July 30.
In the case, Bester stands accused of murdering Milnerton model, 26-year-old Nomfundu Tyulu, in September last year. She was stabbed to death at Ocean Breeze Villas in Sunset Beach.
He has also been charged with theft and robbery with aggravating circumstances for allegedly stealing her laptop and cellphone.
It is the State’s case that Bester and Tyulu booked into the guest house on September 21 last year and that he left the following morning, giving the owners and staff instructions not to bother Tyulu until later in the afternoon.
However, they became concerned after they didn’t see her for the whole day and went to investigate.
They found her body there and immediately alerted the police.
The owners later discovered that there was a knife missing from their kitchen.
Bester was brought to Cape Town in November last year after the Durban Regional Court sentenced him to 60 years in jail, of which 10 years were suspended.
The sentence related to two incidents involving two women, who were raped and robbed at two different lodges in Durban in August last year.
He is also wanted in Joburg.
Cape Argus