UPDATE: Thabo Bester appears in court

* Editor's note: This article is updated each time new information becomes available.

BLOEMFONTEIN - Convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester is appearing before the Bloemfontein magistrate's court.

Bester was held at the Kgosi Mampuru Prison in Pretoria after escaping from a privately-run prison last year.

READ: Thabo Bester expected to appear in court

He at this stage faces a charge of escaping from lawful custody, defeating the ends of justice, violation of a dead body and fraud.

Bester's appearance comes a day after his girlfriend Nandipha Magudumana in the same court.

She faces charges of murder, fraud, aiding and abetting, violation of a dead body and defeating the ends of justice.