Staff Reporter
Three people convicted of kidnapping, robbing and murdering renowned husband and wife botanists Dr Rodney Saunders and Dr Rachel Saunders have been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Durban High Court.
The NPA said it “welcomes the cumulative sentence of double life and 23 years’ imprisonment” imposed on Fatima Bibi Patel, 36, Sayefudeen Aslam Del Vecchio, 46, and Musa Jackson, 43, after their convictions on charges of kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances, theft and two counts of murder.
Del Vecchio was also sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for malicious injury to property.
The convictions relate to the kidnapping and murder of the Saunders in February 2018, in the Ngoye Forest in Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal.
Dr Rodney Saunders, 73, and Dr Rachel Saunders, 64, held dual South African and British citizenship and lived in Cape Town. Before travelling to the Ngoye Forest, they had completed filming for a BBC documentary
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