The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria delivered its judgment on Friday,
The Gauteng High Court sitting in Pretoria has ruled that the urgent application to halt the much-anticipated Netflix documentary Beauty and the Bester has been struck off the roll with costs.
The court delivered its judgment on Friday, exactly 30 minutes before the Netflix three-part documentary true-crime series, Beauty and the Bester, was due to land at 9am on South African screens.
Urgent application
Convicted Facebook rapist Thabo Bester and his accomplice, Nandipha Magudamana, brought an urgent application to interdict the streaming giant from airing Beauty and the Bester.
They argued defamation and that the documentary would infringe on their right to a fair trial to resume in November.
The pair, who were arrested in Tanzania in April 2023 after fleeing South Africa, are facing multiple charges in the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein relating to Bester’s May 2022 escape from prison.
The docu-series is now set to air on Friday.
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Judgment
Judge Sulet Potterill on Thursday reserved her judgment on the matter until early Friday after an intense day of arguments from Bester, Magudumana and Netflix’s lawyers.
Handing down judgment on Friday, Potterill said Magudumana’s last-minute application was “wholly unreasonable”, “without merit”, and put undue pressure on the court.
Potterill ruled the applications lacked urgency, saying it was a “self-created urgency.”
“The application is dismissed. The applicant is to pay the costs on Scale C.”
Bester application
Turning to Bester’s application, Potterill said the Facebook rapist did not meet the “criteria” for an urgent application.
“Speculation, as argued in this court, is not sufficient. I am therefore satisfied that this application, too, did not comply with Rule 612, in that it did not address substantial redress, and in fact, there is substantial redress in due course.
“For that reason, this matter is also struck from the roll and the applicant is to carry the cost,” Potterill ruled.
Potterill said Bester and Magudumana had ample time to bring their applications and seemingly “waited until the last minute” to launch the urgent court bid.
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Defamation
Potterill said information about Bester and Magudumana is “firmly in the public domain” and added that substantive redress, including suing for defamation, is available in due course to the parties as the case law is clear in this regard.
“A defamation claim can be instituted and damages sought. I cannot find in any way that the screening of the utterances they find to make the doctor guilty affects her right to a fair trial.”
Arguments
On Thursday, the court heard Magudumana was paid for her role in a Netflix documentary.
Netflix’s lawyer, Advocate Temba Ngcukaitobi, described the documentary as an “insignificant piece” of a much larger story that has already been extensively covered about Bester’s escape and Magudumana’s alleged role.
Ngcukaitobi argued it would be “astonishing if the media were prohibited from repeating these facts,” adding that the documentary merely points out that “the man is an escapee and that the lady has aided and abetted the escape.”
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