Accused “Fb rapist” who faked demise to flee jail loses bid to dam Netflix documentary

A South African court docket on Friday rejected an try to dam the discharge of a Netflix documentary a few man convicted of rape and homicide who faked his personal demise to flee jail.

Thabo Bester gained international notoriety in 2023 after his arrest in Tanzania, a yr after the dramatic escape from a personal jail in Bloemfontein.

Authorities had believed that Bester, dubbed the “Fb Rapist,” had set himself alight in his cell however DNA assessments revealed the charred stays belonged to another person.

Bester and his movie star physician associate, Nandipha Magudumana, opposed the three-part “Magnificence and the Bester” documentary, arguing it was defamatory and violated their rights to a good trial.

Choose Sulet Potterill dismissed the appliance, ruling that they’d did not show that their petition was pressing, including that the matter was “firmly within the public area.”

Nonetheless, the choose mentioned the pair would nonetheless be free to sue for defamation in the event that they wished, after the documentary airs, CBC Information associate BBC Information reported. 

“A defamation declare might be instituted and damages sought. I can not discover in any approach that the screening of the utterances they discover to make the physician responsible impacts her proper to a good trial,” the choose dominated.

Bester had been sentenced to life in jail in 2012 for luring victims on Fb after which raping and robbing them, killing not less than one particular person. He now faces separate expenses, together with for his escape.

Doubts about Bester’s demise have been first raised by native media outlet GroundUp.

Police later opened a contemporary homicide investigation after an post-mortem revealed the physique present in Bester’s cell had died on account of blunt pressure trauma to the pinnacle earlier than it was set ablaze. The physique was recognized as that of Katlego Bereng Mpholo, in line with the BBC.

Earlier than fleeing overseas, Bester and Magudumana have been thought to have lived in a villa in an prosperous Johannesburg suburb.

The pair have been arrested whereas on the run within the East African state of Tanzania in April 2023 and have been deported, in line with BBC Information.

The movie was launched hours after Friday’s judgment was delivered.