A South African court on Friday dismissed an urgent bid by convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester and his partner, Dr Nandipha Magudumana, to stop Netflix from airing a three-part documentary about his life and prison escape, clearing the way for “Beauty and the Bester” to be released. Judge Sulet Potterill of the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria found the applications lacked urgency and said any alleged harm could be pursued through defamation claims after broadcast.
The series went live shortly after the ruling, with Netflix saying the programme examines Bester’s 2022 escape from the Mangaung maximum-security prison and his relationship with Magudumana. The pair had argued the documentary would prejudice their fair-trial rights and was defamatory.
Bester, dubbed the “Facebook rapist” for luring victims online, was convicted in 2012 for rape and murder and, along with Magudumana, was re-arrested in Tanzania in April 2023 after the escape. They remain in custody awaiting trial.