By Johnathan Paoli
The North Gauteng High Court has dismissed urgent applications brought by convicted murderer Thabo Bester and his partner, Nandipha Magudumana, to stop the airing of Netflix’s highly anticipated documentary, Beauty and the Bester.
In delivering her judgment, Judge Sulet Potterill stressed that the presumption of innocence, a cornerstone of South African law, would not be undermined by the documentary.
“The presumption of innocence until proven guilty will in no way be impacted by the utterances in the documentary. No judge will be influenced by any documentary. Witnesses will be exposed to cross-examination. The public may form opinions, but that is an unavoidable by-product of the criminal justice system,” she said.
The ruling, handed down by Judge Potterill on Friday morning, cleared the way for the documentary’s release barely 30 minutes before its scheduled global premiere.
Both Bester and Magudumana had sought urgent interdicts against Netflix International BV
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