Accused

A South African court on Friday rejected an attempt to block the release of a Netflix documentary about a man convicted of rape and murder that He pretended his own death To escape from prison.

Thabo Bester won world notoriety in 2023 after his arrest in Tanzania, a year after the dramatic escape from a private prison in Bloemfontein.

The authorities had believed that Bester, Nickname the “Facebook rapist” He had put in his cell, but DNA tests revealed that the carbonized remains belonged to another person.

Bester and his celebrity medical partner, Nandipha Magudumana, opposed the three -part documentary of “Beauty and Bester”, arguing that he was defamatory and violated his rights to a fair trial.

Judge Sulet Potterill dismissed the request, ruling that they had not been able to demonstrate that his request was urgent, and added that the matter was “firmly in the public domain.”

However, the judge said the couple would still be free to demand by defamation if they wanted, after the documentary Airs, said CBC News BBC News.

“A defamation claim and the requested damages can be instituted. I cannot find in any way the detection of the expressions they find to make the guilty doctor affect their right to a fair trial,” the judge ruled.

Bestter had been sentenced to life imprisonment in 2012 for attracting victims on Facebook and then raping and stealing them, killing at least one person. Now face separate charges, even for your escape.

The doubts about Bester’s death were first raised by local media.

Later, the Police opened a new murder investigation after an autopsy revealed that the body found in Bester’s cell had died as a result of the trauma of the forceful force in the head before it caught fire. The body was identified as that of Katlego Bereng Mpholo, according to the BBC.

Before fleeing abroad, it was thought that Bester and Magudumana lived in a villa in a suburb of Johannesburg Rico.

The couple was arrested while running in the state of Oriental Africa in Tanzania in April 2023 and were deported, according to BBC News.

The film was released hours after Friday’s trial was broadcast.

• Netflix
• South Africa