Psychologist Describes Thabo Bester As an Intelligent and Sophisticated Con Man Whose Crimes Escaleted in Jail

• The escaped Facebook rapist Thabo Bester has been described as an intelligent and sophisticated criminal by an investigative psychologist
• Dr Gerard Labuchagne interviewed Bester in 2011 shortly after he was arrested for rape and murder
• Bester orchestrated a sophisticated prison escape from Mangaung Correctional Centre and has been on the loose since May 2022

JOHANNESBURG - A criminal psychologist, Dr Gerard Labuchagne, has given South Africans a looking into the workings of the mind of Thabo Bester.

Labuchange, the former head of the SAPS investigative psychology section, interviewed the Facebook rapist in 2011. In his assessment of Bester, Labuchagne concluded that the criminal is an intelligent and sophisticated con man.

Dr Labuschange added that Bester's time in jail did little to set him on the right path as his crimes only escalated during his incarceration, Newsroom Afrika reported.

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The convicted murderer and rapist somehow managed to run a multimillion-rand media business while behind bars, all the while making video calls from his cell and convincing people he was in New York.

Thabo Bester escapes from Mangaung Correctional Centre by faking his death

Bester orchestrated an audacious escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre, a privately-run maximum security prison where he was serving life for the murder of his girlfriend, Nomfundo Tyhulu. Bester was also charged with rape and aggravated battery.

The so-called Facebook rapist escaped by placing a badly charred body in his cell, which led prison officials to conclude that the convict died by suicide, TimesLIVE reported.

The Department of Correctional Services admitted over the weekend that DNA testing revealed the body didn't belong to Bester and the convicted murderer and rapist escaped in May 2022.

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The Thabo Bester saga only came to light because of the relentless and in-depth investigation by human rights-centred publication, GroundUp.

South Africans agree with the criminal psychologist's assessment of Thabo Bester

Here are some comments:

@Khumbu_M said:

"The Thabo Bester story is very very worrying."

Tebogo Lesley Chauke added:

"So basically he graduated in prison."

@t_dzyl declared:

"He is a psychopath."

@KamoBaloyi95 stated

"I really don’t expect anything less than smart, tbh."

@Khuze_Elikhulu commented:

"Everything we've heard about his past few days shows that the psychologist was right in that assessment."

Thabo Bester to face murder charge as evidence suggested fugitive may have killed during his prison break

In a related story, Briefly News reported that the infamous prison escapee Thabo Bester may face additional charges as police have opened a case of murder against him.

An autopsy on the charred body found in Bester's cell revealed that the unidentified deceased individual had not died in a prison cell fire but was killed by blunt force trauma to the head, The Citizen reported.

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Thabo Bester to face murder charge as evidence suggests fugitive may have killed someone to escape

The fugitive, also known as the Facebook rapist, was serving a life sentence at Mangaung Centre when a fire broke out in his prison cell.

Source: Briefly News