'Facebook rapist' Thabo Bester is seen on a television screen in the Western Cape High Court on 3 May 2012. Picture: Gallo Images / The Times / Shelley Christians
The process to bring back Facebook rapist Thabo Bester and his girlfriend Dr Nandipha Magudumana from Tanzania to South Africa might take less than two weeks if they are deported, according to a legal expert.
The Bonnie and Clyde couple was arrested in Tanzania on Friday, after Tanzanian police were alerted to individuals fitting their description.
During their capture, a Mozambican national who was believed to have been helping them was also arrested.
Police Minister Bheki Cele said the three suspects were arrested in the Tanzanian city of Arusha with multiple passports in their possession, 10km away from the Kenyan border.
Bester escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein – a private prison run by G4S Secure Solutions – in May last year.
It was initially believed he had committed suicide by setting himself alight in his cell.
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However, the department of correctional services, which originally declared him dead, confirmed the charred body found in his cell was not him.
National police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said a 39-year-old former G4S employee and a 65-year-old man from Port Edward were expected to appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court today, following their arrest as investigations into Bester’s escape unfold.
Mathe said both have been charged with aiding and abetting a convicted prisoner to escape from lawful custody.
Mpumelelo Zikalala of Zikalala Attorneys said the easiest route for Bester and Magudumana to be brought back was to be deported from Tanzania to SA.
“Once they arrive here they will be charged… and that’s the easiest way,” he said.
He said the maximum period to bring both Bester and Magudumana to South Africa would not exceed two weeks, even if the deportation process was dragged out.
“It’s just a process of appearing in their courts and after that they can just ask for the papers and if they do not have them then they can say go back home,” Zikalala said.
“The immigration laws of Tanzania give a lot of powers to the director-general and his board. They might say you do not even have to appear in court. He can just make a decision that he doesn’t need them in the country and they should be deported.”
READ MORE: Thabo Bester, Dr Nandipha’s deportation from Tanzania ‘doable’ – Lamola
Mathe, however, said the South African Police Service (Saps) would know by the end of the week how soon Bester and Magudumana would be back in the country to answer to crimes they had allegedly committed.
Zikalala said an extradition process would take a bit longer.
“You have to make submissions that these people have been charged and there’s a warrant of arrest, especially for the doctor, because she’s not a convicted criminal.
“Even if she fights for extradition instead of deportation, she wouldn’t avoid deportation because she doesn’t have the papers to be in Tanzania,” Zikalala said.
“For Bester, it would be easier because he’s already a convicted criminal. With the Mozambican it is different because he has to start in Mozambique first before he comes here. You cannot be deported to a country where you do not belong.”
He said if Magudumana was found guilty of all the charges she may be accused of, she was likely to be sentenced to 40 years’ imprisonment.
“The Correctional Services Act gives a maximum of 10 years or fine or both, but then there’s other charges like dealing with human remains, which means she is looking at another five or 10 years.
“Defeating the ends of justice, forgery and uttering, so accumulatively it can end up being 30 or 40 years,” he said.
Zikalala said the ministers of correctional services, police and home affairs should be concerned.
“They have rotten apples because you cannot do this on your own. This means anyone can get out of prison if they have the right connections and money.”
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