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Convicted South African rapist and murderer Thabo Bester has failed in a legal bid to stop Netflix from releasing a documentary about his life — including his dramatic prison escape after allegedly faking his own death.
Bester and his partner, celebrity doctor Nandipha Magudumana, had petitioned the court to block the release of Beauty and the Bester, arguing that it was defamatory and could undermine their right to a fair trial.
But on Friday, Judge Sulet Potterill dismissed their application, ruling that the matter lacked urgency and that their cases were already “firmly in the public domain.” She said they remain free to sue for defamation after the documentary airs, but rejected their attempt to block its release.
The three-part series was made available just hours after the judgment.
Bester, dubbed the “Facebook rapist” for luring victims through the social network, was convicted in 2011 and 2012 for rapes, robberies, and the murder of his girlfriend Nomfundo Tyhulu. He was serving a life sentence when he allegedly escaped from a maximum-security prison in 2022.
Authorities initially believed he had died in a cell fire, but the charred body later turned out to be another person’s. Bester spent months in hiding in Johannesburg under an alias, allegedly with Magudumana’s help, before the pair were arrested in Tanzania in April 2023 and deported back to South Africa.
They are currently in custody, facing multiple charges including fraud, defeating the ends of justice, and violating a corpse. They have not yet entered pleas.
Judge Potterill noted that the couple “waited until the last minute” to file their application, creating a “self-made urgency.”
