Convicted South African rapist Thabo Bester, known as the “Facebook rapist,” has lost his court bid to block Netflix from broadcasting a documentary about his life. Bester’s lawyers argued that the documentary, titled “Beauty and the Bester,” was defamatory, but the streaming giant defended its plan to release the three-part investigation.
The documentary explores how Bester allegedly faked his death and escaped from prison in 2022.
A judge ruled that the rape case was “firmly in the public domain” and that Bester and his partner, celebrity doctor Nandipha Magudumana, had failed to prove that their petition was urgent. The documentary is now set to air on Friday.
Bester was convicted in 2012 for the rape and murder of his model girlfriend, Nomfundo Tyhulu, and had previously been found guilty of raping and robbing two other women.
He allegedly used Facebook to lure his victims and was serving a life sentence when he escaped from a maximum-security prison.
Bester and Magudumana were arrested in Tanzania in April 2023 and are currently in custody, awaiting trial on several charges, including violating a corpse, defeating the ends of justice, and fraud.
