‘Where to from here?’ Nico Bester to no longer face contested hearing after dementia diagnosis

The case of Nicolaas Ockert Bester, a disgraced Hobart teacher who sexually abused Grace Tame and now charged with harassing her on Twitter, has taken an unexpected turn. Latest from court>

Nico Bester leaves the Hobart Magistrates Court on Monday.

The case of Nicolaas Ockert Bester, a disgraced Hobart teacher who sexually abused Grace Tame and now charged with harassing her on Twitter, has taken an unexpected turn.

On Monday, the 72-year-old faced the Hobart Magistrates Court for an expected two-day contested hearing.

But the court heard Bester had been diagnosed with vascular dementia, and was deemed not fit to stand trial.

Bester’s lawyer, Todd Kovacic said Bester’s condition had been conceded by both sides and the only question now was, “where to from here?”

He said both the defence and prosecution legal teams requested a two-week adjournment to work out the next steps in the case.

Nico Bester has been diagnosed with vascular dementia.

Magistrate Andrew McKee continued Bester’s bail. He will reappear in court on August 28 for a further mention in his case – but will not face a contested hearing.

While the court had previously heard concerns of a “medical episode”, Monday was the first occasion his condition had been revealed in public.

The former St Michael’s Collegiate teacher previously pleaded not guilty in March 2023 to three counts of menacing, harassing or causing offence to Ms Tame via public social media posts on Twitter, the platform now known as X.

Ms Tame reported the allegations to Tasmania Police in 2022, with Bester’s Twitter account, @nicobester3, since suspended.

However, the case has been dragging through the court since he allegedly committed the offences between April and August 2022.

Grace Tame. Picture: Chris Kidd

The repeated delays have been caused by at least six adjournments, suggestions Bester might be planning to change his plea, and concerns over a “medical episode” Bester said he suffered in April 2023.

In 2011, Bester was jailed after grooming and repeatedly sexually abusing Ms Tame in 2010.

At the time, he was a 58-year-old teacher and she was a 15-year-old Collegiate school student.

He was sent back to jail in 2016 when he produced child exploitation material by bragging on Facebook that his abuse of Ms Tame was “awesome”.

Ms Tame came to prominence through the “Let Her Speak” campaign, and helped change Tasmanian laws for child sexual abuse survivors, including the right for them to publicly tell their stories, and was named Australian of the Year in 2021.

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