A South African convicted rapist and murderer has moved to court to block the release of the Netflix documentary Beauty and the Bester, which features his relationship with a celebrity doctor and daring prison break in May 2022.

Thabo Bester, is known locally as the “Facebook Rapist” as he used the social media platform to lure at least two women he was convicted of raping. He was also found guilty of killing one.

Bester was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2012 and is facing multiple charges relating to his escape from prison after faking his death in a prison cell.

His lawyers want the court to block Netflix from releasing the documentary until it makes a finding on the case.

Fair trial

They have asked a court in Pretoria to declare that the contents of the documentary violated his right of presumption of innocence until proven guilty and to a fair trial, South African news outlets report.

Bester’s lawyers argue that the production makes serious, unfounded and defamatory submissions against him, they are quoted as saying in a statement.

Netflix has posted a trailer of the documentary on YouTube video sharing platform. The documentary is set to stream on September 12.