Question NW2053 to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
19 June 2023 - NW2053
Breytenbach, Adv G to ask the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
What are the details of the steps that have been taken to ensure that the (a) individual arrested in Tanzania and brought back to South Africa is, in fact, Thabo Bester, and is in fact the same person sentenced as the so-called Facebook rapist and (b) specified individual is in fact the person who was incarcerated, and then escaped from custody, at the Mangaung Correctional Facility?
Reply:
The following steps were taken to ensure that the person arrested in Tanzania was confirmed to be inmate Mr Thabo Bester who escaped from Mangaung Correctional Centre (MCC):
- Individuals’ fingerprints were compared with those fingerprints on the warrant/s of imprisonment at the MCC;
- South African Police Service (SAPS) also confirmed that the fingerprints of the person arrested in Tanzania are the same as the fingerprints of the inmate as on the criminal records kept by the SAPS.
END