Pietermaritzburg – The 50-year jail term imposed on the so-called “Facebook Rapist” Thabo Bester was cut to 30 years on appeal in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday.

Bester, 25, pleaded guilty to raping and robbing two women he lured to Durban with promises of modelling photo shoots, and was sentenced to 50 years by the Durban Regional Court in October 2011.

On Friday, Judges Gregory Kruger and Fikile Mohgohloa reduced four 15-year sentences for two rapes and two aggravated robberies to 10 years each, with 10 years running concurrently with the other sentences.

Bester admitted that he advertised for potential models on a website. A victim contacted him and they drove from Johannesburg to Durban and booked into a hotel, where he tied the victim with duct tape and raped and robbed her.

He said he felt remorse after the rape and went to another hotel to commit suicide, but another person saw him and threw him out of the hotel.

A week later, he raped another woman in the Durban area.

Bester was sentenced in the Western Cape High Court to life last May for the murder of Johannesburg model Nomfundo Tyhulu. – Sapa