Netflix’s ‘Beauty and the Bester’ film ‘kangaroo court’, says Bester

The Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, will deliver its judgment exactly half an hour before the Netflix three part documentary true-crime series, "Beauty and the Bester", is due to land at 9am on South African screens, on whether the series may be aired or not.

Judge Sulet Potterill on Thursday reserved her judgment on the matter to Friday morning, after enquiring from Netflix when exactly the series will be made available to viewers across the globe.

This comes after convicted rapist and murderer, Thabo Bester and his life partner Nandipha Magudumana turned to court for an urgent order halting the screening of the series. It was argued on behalf of both that Netflix should hold the series until their criminal trial has been disposed of.

Counsel for both argued that they will be seen in a bad light if the around 300 million Netflix viewers worldwide saw the series, and that they will be convicted in the court of public opinion. It was argued that they have the right to be presumed innocent until found guilty. 

They fear that, although judges must be impartial, the trial judge in their criminal trial, as well as the witnesses, may be influenced by what they see in the series.

Advocate Moafrika Wa Maila, acting for Bester, said they have only seen the trailer, but what was portrayed in it, infringed his clients rights to a fair trial, to human dignity and to be presumed innocent until found guilty.

Mailia said the documentary is not about Bester’s life story, as claimed by Netflix. According to him it is about the allegations that he had escaped from a maximum prison facility.

“There is not proof that he had escaped. He has not yet been convicted on this. There are many reasons why a person is no longer in prison, such as parole. The documentary is a kangaroo court,” Maila told the court.

He further argued that everyone knew what “Beauty and the Bester” stands for. “Bester is replacing the beast in the children’s story 'Beauty and the Beast' - meaning my client will now be the beast. This is serious defamation,” Maila argued.

He questioned what would happen if Bester was ever acquitted on the charges he is facing, adding that his name would forever be tainted. “Should he be treated like a piece of meat?” Maila questioned in arguing that no matter what, Bester had rights like anyone else.

He pointed out that Bester and his co-accused are due back in the Bloemfontein High Court next Friday to face their criminal trial and if the screening went ahead, it would seriously prejudice him.

Advocate Mphendulo Mfeka, acting for Magudumana said his client would suffer a trial by the public if the airing of the series went ahead. He pointed out that she has not even pleaded to the criminal charges against her and that, in light of what is said in the series about her, she chose in court to exercise her right to remain silent.

He also complained about the fact that she has not been given the chance to give her side of the story to the producers of the documentary.

However, Advocate Thembeka Ngcukaitobi, acting for Netflix, said they did ask her to contribute towards the series. At first she said she will make some comments, but she later declined, he said.

Ngcukaitobi said there is nothing in the series that the public does not yet know - such as that Bester is a convicted rapist and killer and that he had escaped from prison. Many judges have stated these facts in judgments which crossed their paths involving in the pair and there are many media reports stating these facts. Thus, it is nothing new, he said.

“He has escaped, let's not beat round the bush,” he said regarding Bester’s argument that this has not yet been proved.

Cape Times