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Convicted South African rapist Thabo Bester has lost a court bid to block Netflix from broadcasting a documentary about his life – including how he allegedly faked his death and escaped from prison.<\/p>\n
His lawyers argued that Beauty and the Bester was defamatory, but the streaming giant defended its plan to release the three-part investigation.<\/p>\n
Bester’s partner, celebrity doctor Nandipha Magudumana, features in the documentary, having allegedly helped him escape. She was part of the court bid to halt the release.<\/p>\n
In a court ruling on Friday, a judge said the rape case was “firmly in the public domain” and that they had failed to prove that their petition was urgent.<\/p>\n
She however said that the pair would still be free to sue for defamation if they wished, after the documentary airs. It is due to be released later on Friday.<\/p>\n
Bester was convicted in 2012 for the rape and murder of his model girlfriend Nomfundo Tyhulu.<\/p>\n
A year earlier, he was found guilty of raping and robbing two other women.<\/p>\n
Bester became known as the “Facebook rapist” for using the social networking site to lure his victims.<\/p>\n
He was serving a life sentence when he allegedly escaped from a maximum security prison in 2022.<\/p>\n
A fire broke out in prison, with the authorities finding a charred body that they thought was Bester’s. However, it turned out to be that of another person.<\/p>\n
Undetected for a year, Bester then allegedly lived under an alias in South Africa’s main city, Johannesburg, helped by his partner.<\/p>\n
The pair were arrested while on the run in the East African state of Tanzania in April 2023, and were deported.<\/p>\n
They are currently in custody, awaiting trial on several charges – including violating a corpse, defeating the ends of justice and fraud.<\/p>\n
They have not yet pleaded to the charges.<\/p>\n
The two had petitioned the court to halt the much-anticipated Netflix documentary, saying it infringed their right to a fair trial.<\/p>\n
Handing down judgment on Friday, Judge Sulet Potterill said the applications lacked urgency, terming it a “self-created urgency”.<\/p>\n
The judge said Bester and Magudumana had ample time to launch their applications and “waited until the last minute” to file it as urgent.<\/p>\n
But the court ruled that it was open to hear their substantive redress, including suing for defamation, as the case law was clear about that.<\/p>\n
“A defamation claim can be instituted and damages sought. I cannot find in any way that the screening of the utterances they find to make the doctor guilty affects her right to a fair trial,” the judge ruled.<\/p>\n