Thabo Bester, dubbed the “Facebook rapist”, intends appealing against his 50-year jail sentence for raping and robbing two women.
“My client indicated he wants to appeal” said Bester’s legal aid attorney, Narendra Narotam, after the man was sentenced on Friday.
Unkempt and unshaven compared with his groomed pictures posted on Facebook, he simply bowed his head when he heard his sentence.
Bester, 23, and the first victim drove from Johannesburg to Durban together in the victim’s car and booked into a hotel in Umhlanga where he raped the young woman.
He told the court earlier that he met his second victim a few days later. He said he took the woman to a guest house in Westville under the pretext that he would help her rehearse her lines for an interview.
Durban Regional Court magistrate Sharon Marks said the rapes and robberies were well planned and premeditated.
When testifying in mitigation of sentence, Bester painted a sad picture of his life growing up with an alcoholic grandmother, being sexually abused by her friend and being gang-raped in jail.
He said he was sorry for his actions, but Marks said he had not explained to the court what motivated him to commit such a crime.
She sentenced Bester to 15 years each for each count of rape and 15 years each for both counts of robbery. Bester will be serving 50 years because five years for each of the robbery counts will run concurrently with the rape sentences.
Bester will be questioned by police in connection with a kidnapping in Johannesburg and the murder of a 26-year-old Johannesburg model, Nomfuno Tyulu, in Cape Town last month. - Cape Argus