[imagesource:screenshot/newzroomafrika]

The whole of South Africa is a bit shaken by smooth criminal Thabo Bester.

The convicted rapist and murderer, along with the aid of his girlfriend, celebrity doctor Nandipha Magudumana, planted a corpse (which he is suspected of murdering) in his prison cell, set it on fire and made it look like he had committed suicide while he walked out of jail seemingly scot-free.

While his little escapade didn’t last too long – as GroundUp brought to the fore a few dodgy details in his alleged “death” before spotting him shopping for orange juice at Woolies in Sandton, leading to a scurry to re-arrest him, which happened in Tanzania just recently – we have to wonder what more this master manipulator is capable of.

I don’t know about you, but I am not holding my breath.

If he can find and fork out around R5 million to pay the security guards at Mangaung maximum security prison in Bloemfontein to help him walk free, then he can probably do the same somewhere else. South Africa is loaded with desperate and corrupt people.

Dr Gérard Labuschagne, a clinical psychologist and former brigadier of the SAPS Investigative Psychology Section, who interviewed the convicted murderer during his sentencing in 2011, made some telling observations about the high-flying villain, per IOL:

A very intelligent, professional conman, who is highly manipulative and believes people are there to serve his will and be cast aside once he is done with them, he said.

Labuschagne said he found Bester to be intelligent, so much so that he would adapt his style to ensure he manipulated his victims and ultimately get what he wanted out of them.

The idea that this Facebook rapist could be a psychopath wasn’t mentioned, but the diagnosis does not seem so far off:

“He obviously hasn’t changed since being imprisoned, and his cons just became more sophisticated and elaborate. He is clearly not rehabilitated.

“He is a professional conman, highly manipulative, you can’t believe a word that comes out of his mouth without verifying it first. For him, people are there to serve his will and will be cast out as soon as he is done with them.”

Bester said that he was born at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in June 1986 and lived on a plot in Ennerdale with his grandmother (Johanna Bester, who has since died), and had left school in the then-Standard 5.

While Labuschagne said he could not recall if the convicted murderer mentioned the type of relationship he had with his family, his mother, Maria Mabaso – who gave birth to Bester when she was just 16 – is adamant that she didn’t abandon him, per another IOL article:

She denied that she abandoned her son and said it was Bester who didn’t want to live with her.

“He was never home when I went to visit. My mother brought him with his sister to come and stay with me. He went back to my home and the younger sister stayed … He should not blame me, he’s the one who ran away from me,” she told the broadcaster.

After seeing all the crazy stories about her son in the news, she said she cannot face him:

“I will allow some people to go and see him, I will never visit him, I don’t have that heart. I don’t, I don’t … I’m sure it will be my death.

“I can’t handle what I’m seeing on TV, what will happen when I see it live? … What will happen to me when I see it live? … I have other kids to live for,” [Maria said].

Mabaso said she wants her son to change and be a better person.

“This child will kill me, he will kill me, this is a death sentence of a child, he won’t die, he’s still young. I’m old, I’m going to die,” she said.

It was Mabaso’s DNA that helped the case along, revealing how the burned body did not have a DNA match and therefore could not have been Bester.

Meanwhile, some old childhood friends of Bester’s have come forward with how they were also potentially “scammed” when Bester was just a boy. The man, from Johannesburg, spoke to News24 on condition of anonymity because he doesn’t want to be associated with Bester.

According to the man, Bester, who was then known as “Robert”, just disappeared one day when he was about 15 and the man was 10 years old:

“I’m so sad about the whole thing. It always felt like he was a brother to me, but it seems even as a kid he was doing it [deceiving people]. He was polite and the nicest person. It seems to be his modus operandi and [it fooled] even my mother and father. I felt he was the brother I never had, so it’s sad, the whole thing.”

The man recalls meeting ‘Robert’ who was visibly poorer than he was, helping him and developing a little bond:

The family would have Robert over and the boys became friends, but one day he just disappeared, and they were unable to find him.

But, he said, a few years later – when he was a teen, he had seen “Robert” and tried to speak to him. “He just ignored me when I called his name. I went to my mom and she also recognised him. But he just ignored us.”

The man had been joking with his sister about the boy “who scammed us” right before his blood ran cold upon seeing a picture of Thabo as a teen in the news, and put two together:

He said that knowing what happened with his friend “Robert”, he didn’t blame people for being fooled by Bester.

“People keep saying that the doctor Doc [Magudumana] was so dumb, but I don’t blame her. Apparently, he even hosted a [glamorous dinner party] from prison. I don’t blame [the party guests] for being taken in by him.”

The master manipulator even ran scams from jail while it is also reported that he and Dr Nandi ran a fraudulent construction company called Arum Properties which made them millions:

“I know this story is crazy, and we’re all interested in Bester and what happened, but I don’t want us to forget – this guy did rape and kill innocent people. Families were destroyed because of the things he did. We shouldn’t forget about his victims.”

Opera News also has a story about how a salon owner was scammed by Bester, flanked by five models who needed their hair done. The situation is just a small, far more innocent tale in Bester’s sordid shenanigans. Indeed, we should not forget all the people who have died at his hands, least of all the women he strangled, beat and raped so that his pleasures could be fulfilled.

It’s a wonder that Dr Nandi has made it this far. Then again, she could be just as bad.

Bester will be back in court on May 16, while four others, including Dr Nandi and her father, are set for an appearance today for their alleged part in helping Bester escape from prison.

Dr Nandi faces charges of aiding and abetting an escapee, murder, violation of bodies, and fraud.

[sources:iol&iol&opera&news24]