Durban - The alleged killers of an elderly British couple who were brutally murdered before their bodies were fed to crocodiles more than four years ago were determined their bodies would never be found.
Respected botanists Rod Saunders, 74, and wife Dr Rachel Saunders, 63, were in KwaZulu-Natal when they were targeted, kidnapped, beaten to death and then put in their sleeping bags and thrown into a river infested with the reptiles.
The three accused – Sayefundeen Aslam Del Vecchio, 39, his wife Bibi Fatima Patel, 28, and their lodger at the time Mussa Ahmad Jackson, 35 – appeared in the Durban High Court on Tuesday when the State had been expected to continue its case.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said Judge Sharmane Balton informed the parties that she was recusing herself as it was brought to her attention that she had dealt with a related Asset Forfeiture Unit preservation application.
“Given the circumstances, she was of the view that the matter should proceed de novo before another judge. Therefore, the matter was adjourned to October 25, for the allocation of a new trial judge. The accused were remanded in custody as their bail was previously refused.”
The three have denied charges of kidnapping, murder, robbery with aggravated circumstances and theft.
Saunders was born in South Africa and received dual citizenship after marrying British-born Rod, and the pair travelled the globe giving lectures on their passion and expertise on the gladioli of South Africa.
In 1995, they set up Silverhill Seeds and built a successful business working from home and employing staff to sell their seeds around the world.
Del Vecchio, who converted to Islam, and Patel, whose father is a Muslim cleric, have both been included on South African security force’s watchlists.
The 39-year-old had been caught on a quadbike watching planes at Durban’s King Shaka International Airport more than two years before the murders.
Messages on WhatsApp and Telegram found on their phone showed that the suspects discussed plans to “kill the kuffar (non-believer) and abduct their alias, to destroy infrastructure and put fear in the heart of the kuffar”. They also described the Saunders as “prey” who were ripe for a “hunt”. Another message confirms the “target” is captured, and another the “preys are in hellfire”. One says “it very important that the body of the victims is never found and it remains a missing person case”.
The couple lived in Cape Town at the time of their disappearance and the Independent on Saturday interviewed Rod’s former colleague and long-time Cape Town friend Andrea Benn as well as fellow botanist Jan Vlok from Oudtshoorn, who has known the Saunders since the ’90s.
Vlok had said that the couple had returned to the Drakensberg that month in the hope of finding a rare gladiolus lily that had eluded them during three previous visits.
“They are working on a book on gladiolus and for several years they have been searching for it,” said Vlok in 2018.
He said it had been their fourth trip to try try get photos of it, adding that it flowered in February, and it could only be found on a single Drakensberg peak.
The couple’s badly decomposed bodies had been devoured by the crocodiles when they were pulled out of the water by fishermen days later.
The full-scale hunt for the seed hunters had already resulted in four arrests.
The fourth suspect, who was found to have bought cellphones belonging to the Saunders but was not involved in the kidnap and killing, was given a suspended sentence in return for vital evidence.
During court proceedings, it was revealed that they left their home in Cape Town in their Toyota Land Cruiser on February 5, 2018, to keep a rendezvous in the Drakensberg Mountains in KwaZulu-Natal about 1 448km away with a BBC TV documentary film crew.
They were interviewed by TV presenter Nick Bailey for an episode of Gardeners World as they searched the Drakensberg Mountain region for rare gladioli flower seeds. After filming, expert horticulturist Rod and microbiologist wife Rachel, who had been married for more than 30 years, headed off together to camp at a dam in a remote forest.
They were last in contact with an employee at Silverhill Seeds which they ran from their home in Cape Town on February 8.
The alarm was raised on February 10 after a friend tried to call Rod to wish him happy birthday.
The court was told: “Around February 10 the investigating officer received information that Rodney Saunders and his wife Dr Rachel Saunders from Cape Town had been kidnapped in the KwaZulu-Natal region.
“It was established on February 13 that the defendants were drawing money from various ATMs which amounted to theft of R734 000 and there was the robbery of their Land Cruiser and of camping equipment.”
The State said it believed the Saunders were killed between February 10 and 15 at the Ngoye Forest.
On February 15, Vecchio and his wife were arrested at their home in Endlovini, about 48km from the Ngoye Forest, after the Hawks found a link between the cellphones belonging to the Saunders and the cellphones of the suspects, and applied for a search warrant.
A number of items which had been bought on the Saunders’ bank card were recovered, including receipts in the handbag of Patel which corresponded with the date and time of its use.
The court heard: “On March 23, the third accused Mussa Ahmad Jackson was arrested and he made a statement to the effect (that) he was woken by Patel at their home on February 10 and told to meet Del Vecchio on the road.
“Del Vecchio in the Land Cruiser and Patel and Jackson followed to the Tugela River Bridge where they helped him remove sleeping bags from the back of the Toyota and they threw them with human bodies inside into the river”.
The victims’ Land Cruiser was recovered on February 19 with a large amount of blood in the cargo area which was later confirmed to belong to Saunders, the court heard.
Rachel’s body had been recovered in the Tugela River on February 14 and Rod’s on February 17, by local fisherman but both bodies were not initially linked to the missing persons’ inquiry.
It is believed that they both died from being beaten to death with a blunt instrument after being kidnapped and robbed, and were then dropped off the bridge into the river in the hopes the crocodiles would consume them.
The Independent on Saturday