Jail escapee Thabo Bester and his celebrity doctor girlfriend Nandipha Magudumana have lost their last-minute court bid to stop Netflix airing a documentary about them.
Beauty and the Bester begins with veteran jurist Edwin Cameron discussing the improbable escape from Mangaung maximum security prison by the rapist serving a life term and the couple's luxury lifestyle while on the run.
Pretoria high court judge Sulet Potterill removed the two applications brought to her by Bester and Magudumana on an urgent basis.
The judge said the urgency was self-created as the airing date of the documentary was known to them at least from August when the trailer was broadcast.
The doccie was flighted on the streaming channel from 9am on Friday.
The pair argued the show used their images, voices and personal details without proper consent and the release would prejudice legal matters.
In her application, Magudumana sought to prevent Netflix from airing footage of her father Zolile Sekeleni and comments by Cameron, then the inspecting judge of correctional services, calling for the documentary to be modified before release. Bester filed a parallel bid with similar demands.
The court dismissed the applications, finding the matter was not urgent and the applicants could obtain redress at a later stage if necessary. The judge criticised Magudumana’s legal team for delays and for filing crucial papers hours before the hearing, calling the conduct “preposterous” and “an abuse of urgent court procedure”.
Bester, dubbed the “Facebook rapist”, was convicted in 2012 for murder and rape. He escaped in 2022 after faking his death in a fire in his prison cell, allegedly with Magudumana's help. They had met when she was studying at Wits University, and despite her being married with two children, allegedly began a relationship after she became a regular prison visitor.
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