Staff Reporter
The three people convicted of kidnapping, robbing and murdering husband and wife British botanists Dr Rodney Saunders and Dr Rachel Saunders are expected to be sentenced in the Durban High Court on Thursday, more than eight years after the couple were murdered during a seed-collecting trip in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
Fatima Bibi Patel, Sayefudeen Aslam Del Vecchio and Musa Jackson were convicted by the KwaZulu-Natal Division of the High Court sitting in Durban on charges of kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances, theft and two counts of murder, in June.
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Del Vecchio was also convicted of malicious damage to property.
The convictions relate to the kidnapping and murder of the Saunders between 8 and 14 February 2018 in the Ngoya Forest, Zululand. Before travelling to the forest, the couple had completed filming for a BBC documentary in the Drakensberg.
The Saunders arrived in the Ngoya Forest on 8 February 2018 in search of rare and unique seeds. They were travelling in a vehicle carrying research equipment and camping gear when they were accosted by the accused.
The couple were kidnapped and robbed of their personal belongings.
The accused gained access to banking applications on the couple’s mobile phones and carried out numerous transactions and cash withdrawals totalling more than R700,000.
The Saunders were later murdered. Their bodies were discovered a week later on the banks of the crocodile-infested Tugela River.
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The case drew international attention because at the time of their arrests, investigators found ISIS flags and literature in their home.
Del Vecchio was convicted of malicious injury to property after it was found that he set fire to three Tongaat Hulett farms in September 2017 in the area between Sibaya Casino and Umdloti.
The court found the fire followed the company’s refusal to allow Del Vecchio to enter its farms. The blaze caused extensive damage to sugarcane crops, resulting in estimated losses of about R2.3 million.
