Magistrate Sharon Marks gave him 15 years' imprisonment for each of the two counts of rape.
He was sentenced to another 15 years, with five years suspended, for each of the two counts of armed robbery with aggravating circumstances. On Wednesday, Bester pleaded guilty to all four charges. He burst into tears in the Durban Magistrate's Court on
Friday when he explained the
circumstances which he said led him to commit his crimes. Speaking in mitigation of his
sentence, he told the court he had been raped by his grandmother's
friend when he was young, raped
several times by a man who promised to look after him, and that he was gang-raped in prison.
He said he had never seen his parents and that he lived under
excruciating conditions with his alcoholic grandmother and
grandfather on a farm in Gauteng.
He said he was raped by his grandmother's friend, and that
when he told his grandmother about the abuse, it was like talking to a wall. "My grandmother's friend
hurt me when he raped me, and I had an operation on my behind."
The situation became worse when his grandmother died, and he had to live with his friends in a squatter
camp. While living there he was approached by a man who promised to look after him, but who had then locked him in his
house for days and raped him.
Bester told the court the difficulties he encountered forced
him to commit crime. "I resorted to crime to support myself. It is either you die or make a plan," he said.
He had been found guilty of fraud
in 2009 and sentenced to six months in jail with an option of
paying a R1500 fine. "I did not have money to pay. They treated
me badly in prison because they thought I was from a well-off
family."
He had been gang-raped. A bottle. with soapy water was inserted into his anus while he was in prison.
The report about his prison abuse was presented in court on Friday. It only mentioned the abuse, but not the rapes.
Seeking to persuade the court to give him a lesser sentence, Bester
said he needed a second chance. "I
know I have done terrible things.
This is not truly who I am. I want the opportunity to put things right," he said. If the court felt he
did not deserve mercy, he would accept it.
During cross-examination, State prosecutor, Lolly Soobramany,
asked Bester why he did not hand himself over after he contacted the investigating officer. Bester said
he had wanted to surrender to police, but became scared and ran
when he saw the story about his crimes in the newspapers. He said he knew he was sought across the country for crimes including
murder.
Soobramany described Bester as a danger to society, saying what he had done had caused trauma to his victims which would stay with
them for the rest of their lives.
Bester, who used aliases including
Thomas, was arrested last Wednesday in Alberton, south of
Johannesburg.
He was dubbed the "Facebook
rapist" because he used social media to lure women. He told
them international modelling scouts were interested in them
and then met them in person.
Bester would then rape and rob them at knife-point.
He was expected to be taken to Gauteng at the weekend to face
other charges there, including murder
Source...
Times News
No comments:
Post a Comment