The notorious “Facebook” killer Thabo Bester admits he’s a killer, but he insists “I’m no rapist”. The convicted killer makes the startling claim in an exclusive interview with the Daily Voice from behind bars.

In part one of the interview SA’s infamous conman reveals:

- His desperation to care for his three young daughters drove him to murder;

- He begged the family of his former girlfriend - aspiring model Nomfundo Tyulu - to forgive him for butchering her in a Cape guest house;

- How he has found God behind bars as he seeks redemption for his crimes.

In the interview, Bester pours out his heart for the first time since his high-profile arrest in October last year.

Speaking from Drakenstein Correctional Centre in Paarl where he is serving a life sentence, Bester details how he killed Nomfundo.

But he says: “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone, I needed money to support my three [daughters].”

The conman became known across the country as the “Facebook Rapist” after reports emerged that the charmer used social networking sites to lure beautiful young women.

But despite admitting that he has killed, Bester amazingly claims he is no rapist.

“It is not like I wake up in the morning sexually frustrated,” he says. “I’m a father, I have daughters and would not want anyone raping them.”

Bester also insists he never intended to kill his girlfriend in a Milnerton guesthouse last September.

He says he only wanted to rob her because he needed the money to pay for rent so he could be close to where two of his daughters were living in Morningside, Durban.

“I needed the money and I knew she had some,” Bester says. “By then I knew I was not going to get funds from [the investors] I came to see in Cape Town.

“That night I wanted to scare her, so I took a knife and we got into a struggle. “As she held my arm, my hand slipped and I stabbed her. “I tried to stop the bleeding, but there was too much blood.”She did not say anything.

“I wasn’t thinking straight - I knew I was wanted for rape and the police would not believe it was an accident.”

Bester admits he committed fraud “to survive”.

“My criminal record [prior to the rape and murder] states that I committed fraud,” he says. “But I did whatever I had to do to get money - I had to hustle.”

In a letter given to this newspaper, Bester also expresses his regret at killing Nomfundo.

“I am so sorry for all my sins in life… I am so sorry to Nomfundo’s family for the pain I put them in,” Bester writes. “If I was not in her life she would be with us today. “Yes, I got a life sentence, but it will not give us Nomfundo.”

After killing his girlfriend, Bester fled to Durban.

For weeks he dominated headlines as he played a high-profile cat-and-mouse game with cops hunting him across the country.

The conman’s flamboyant lifestyle came to an abrupt end when police eventually tracked him down last October.

Two weeks ago Bester was sentenced to life and 25 years for murder and aggravated robbery in the Western Cape High Court.

He was already serving a 50-year prison sentence for raping two models in Durban.

Bester is also currently facing two fraud charges in Johannesburg, one in Cape Town and another for an armed robbery in Boksburg.

But despite being one of SA’s most infamous inmates, Bester claims he never intended to embark on a life of crime.

He says he went from being a “normal person to a high-profile criminal” within a matter of weeks.

His notoriety has made him a well-known figure behind bars where even the prison guards casually refer to him as the “Facebook Rapist”.

Now, as he faces the rest of his life in jail, Bester reveals he has turned to God as he seeks redemption for his crimes.

“I started reading the Bible and [am] going to church,” he says.

Daily Voice

Tshego Lepule And Megan Baadjies

‘I’m a killer, not a rapist’