How Thabo Bester and Nandipha Magudumana are trying to stop Netflix's "Beauty and the Bester" from airing

The urgent application launched by notorious convicted Facebook rapist and killer Thabo Bester, to stop Netflix from releasing the three part documentary true-crime series,  "Beauty and the Bester", will now be heard on Thursday.

This comes after his life partner Nandipha Magudumana instructed her attorney to also apply for an urgent order to halt the documentary series. 

Judge Sulet Potterill was due to hear Bester’s application on Tuesday in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, but as the two cases will now be heard simultaneously, the matter will only proceed on Thursday - on the eve of the proposed release of the series on Friday.

Neither Bester nor Magudumana, who are both awaiting trial in prison, will be at the urgent court hearing. As it is not a criminal trial, their lawyers will handle their arguments and it is said that there is no need for them to be there.

Both Bester and Magudumana want the court to interdict Netflix from releasing the documentary, claiming that the series contains inaccurate, defamatory and unsubstantiated claims and violates their constitutional rights.

They are awaiting trial on several charges after they were arrested in 2023 in Tanzania following a series of events which had shocked the nation. This includes Bester’s notorious prison break from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein where he served a life imprisonment term for the rape and murder convictions.

Netflix has meanwhile widely advertised its three part series, which examines the connection between Magudumana’s and Bester’s alleged explosive prison escape and their subsequent journey.

Bester and Magudumana will take-on the producers of the documentary and it is expected that they will either ask for a final interdict to stop the airing of the series, or for an interim order halting its launch, pending a final order to interdict the screening.

As Netflix is set on going ahead airing the series on Friday, Judge Potterill is expected to deliver her verdict on Thursday.

They want the court to declare that the contents of the documentary series violates their constitutional rights to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

According to Bester he became aware of the documentary last month after Netflix had posted the trailer.  Bester, who is facing a host of criminal charges, alongside Magudumana and other co-accused in the Bloemfontein High Court, believes that the documentary will cause him irreparable harm and it will have a detrimental  impact on his criminal trial. It is expected that a similar argument will be advanced on behalf of Magudumana.

Bester said that what he could gather from the trailer, the documentary included commentary and allegations of a criminal nature against him which is not presented on facts. He also complained that he was not afforded the right to reply to these allegations.

According to Netflix, the series presents "courtroom footage and never-before-seen investigative material that peel back the layers of a story where love, manipulation, and corruption collide, culminating in a jaw-dropping incident that stunned the world". 

Both Bester and Magudumana launched a similar application in March last year against Netflix to prevent the Showmax documentary “Tracking Thabo Bester” from airing. The Johannesburg High Court dismissed the application.

zelda.venter@inl.co.za