'Facebook rapist' case postponed

2012-07-30 16:47

Thabo Bester (File, Sapa)

Cape Town - The trial of "Facebook rapist" Thabo Bester was postponed by the Western Cape High Court on Monday.

Judge Andre le Grange postponed the case to August 13 to enable Bester to consult his lawyer Susanna Kuun.

Kuun said Bester was transferred from Leeuwkop Prison in Johannesburg to the Drakenstein Correctional Centre in the Western Cape at the weekend and she had not had time to take instructions.

Bester's trial was to have started on Monday after he turned down a plea and sentencing agreement in May.

Kuun, who was standing in for advocate Peter Burgers, indicated that a new plea agreement could be drafted.

When Le Grange asked Bester why he had not been transferred sooner, he calmly shrugged his shoulders and said: "I don't know".

The judge then looked at the correctional services guards surrounding Bester. They smiled and said nothing.

The court heard that Bester would have to appear in the Alberton Magistrate's Court on August 16 in connection with another case.

However, Le Grange said his trial in Cape Town had been set down until the end of the month and took preference over other cases.

Bester would remain in custody.

He is accused of killing 26-year-old model Nomfundo Tyulu in Milnerton, Cape Town, in September last year.

She was found stabbed in the chest in a room at a bed and breakfast.

Bester was previously sentenced to 50 years' imprisonment for raping and robbing two models.

He was sentenced to 15 years on each count of rape and 15 years on each count of robbery. Five years of each robbery sentence was suspended.

Bester was called the "Facebook rapist" as he used the social networking site to lure women to meet him, claiming that international modelling scouts were interested in them.

Armed with a knife, he then raped and robbed them.

- SAPA