Thabo Bester due in court after deportation from Tanzania

Convicted murderer and rapist Thabo Bester, who executed an audacious escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre, is expected to appear in the Bloemfontein magistrate's court on Friday.

The so-called Facebook rapist is expected to be escorted from Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Centre in Pretoria to be processed at Park Road Police Station before being brought back to court.

Bester will be charged with murder, escaping from custody, defeating the ends of justice and fraud.

There is tight security in and around the court with Tactical Response Team officers guarding the vicinity.

His appearance comes a day after his lover Dr Nandipha Magudumana made her first appearance in the same court flanked by heavily armed police.

The former fugitive is likely to join Magudumana, her father Zolile Cornelius Sekeleni, former G4S employee Senohe Matsoara and former camera technician Teboho Lipholo when they reappear in the dock on Monday in connection with the escape.

Bester and Magudumana returned to South Africa via a chartered flight from Tanzania in the early hours of Thursday morning after being on the run from authorities for nearly a month.

They were arrested in Arusha, Tanzania, close to the Kenyan border, over the Easter weekend.

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