Rolex watches among items worth R29m ‘stolen’ from Thabo Bester during his arrest

Convicted rapist Thabo Bester has left South Africans in shock after revealing a list of items he claims were stolen from him during his arrest in Arusha, Tanzania, in April.

Bester and his lover Dr Nandipha Magudumana, along with their co-accused, appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday morning.

The case has been postponed to 11 October for further investigation.

WATCH: Lovebirds Thabo Bester and Nandipha reunite for first time after arrest

The suspects are accused of aiding Bester’s escape from prison, fraud, corruption and defeating the ends of justice.

Bester escaped the Mangaung prison following a fire. A charred body was found in his cell, and presumed to be that of Bester.

However, the plan went south after Bester was spotted shopping at a Woolworths in Sandton City, nearly two months after his reported death at the prison.

It was later found that Bester had escaped the Free State prison after faking his own death.

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Following his escape from jail on 3 May 2022, a manhunt was launched, which led to his arrest in Tanzania.

On Tuesday, his legal representative Kabelo Matee told the court that there were missing items belonging to Bester that are yet to be recovered.

The items include:

• iPhone 14 ProMax – R36 000
• Samsung S23 – R32 000
• Samsung Z4 – R40 000
• iPad 16 – R18 000
• Macbook Air 16 – R12 500
• Macbook Pro 16 – R34 600
• Burberry card holder – R15 500
• Burberry sunglasses – R11 500
• Tom Ford sunglasses – R9 500
• HP laptop – R41 000
• Louis Vuitton laptop bag – R51 000
• Marriage ring – R350 000
• Two Audemars Piguet watches – R2 500 000 each
• Two FM watches – R2 500 000 each
• Two Rolex watches – R2 600 000 each
• C watch – R1 750 000
• Patek Philippe watch – R1 900 000

Disappeared cash:

• R295 000
• $36 000
• 7 200 000 Tanzanian Shillings
• 1 400 000 Zambian Kwacha
• £500 000
• 150 000 Swiss Francs (about R3.2 million)

Also missing is a Polo bag with clothes worth R750 000.

“All these items that I’m mentioning were reported stolen by accused number five at the Lanseria Police Station. I do not have the case number of the said case, however, I thought that it was prudent that we put these items on record. They are still missing and nobody is taking accountability,” said his lawyer.

Bester, dubbed the Facebook rapist after a spate of robberies, rape and even murder, was sentenced to 50 years in jail by the Durban Magistrate’s Court in 2011.