Durban - The trial against three people accused of killing Rodney Charles Saunders and his wife Rachel May Saunders in February 2018 will resume in the Durban High Court on Monday.
The accused, Sayefundeen Aslam Del Vecchio, 39, his wife, Bibi Fatima Patel and Mussa Ahmed Jackson, 35, are charged with kidnapping, robbery, murder and theft.
Jackson is a Malawian National from the Bonela Informal Settlement in Durban, while Del Vecchio and his wife were from the Endlovini area, Eshowe.
The Cape Town-based British couple who were botanists had left Cape Town on the 5 February 2018 to make a video documentary film in the Northern Free State, and they were travelling with their Toyota Land Cruiser.
According to State indictments, the trio are alleged to have kidnapped and killed the Saunders at or near the Ngoye forest area in Eshowe between February 10 and 15, 2018.
The couple had their last communication with one of their employees on 8 February 2018, when they indicated that they would be camping at the Bivane Dam in KZN.
On February 12, 2018, the Hawks received information about a possible kidnapping, and police found that the trio had been withdrawing money from various ATMs and they made several purchases with a FNB card that belonged to Rachael Saunders.
Police arrested Del Vecchio and his wife on February 15, 2018, following an authorised search and seizure, which were conducted at their premises. The Saunders couple was not found.
Jackson, in a statement, allegedly told police that on February 10, he assisted both the accused to remove sleeping bags from the back of the Toyota, and they threw the sleeping bags with human bodies into the Tugela river.
The body of Rachel Saunders was recovered on 14 February 2018 in the Tugela River but was only identified on 6 June 2018.
Her husband’s body was recovered on 17 February 2018 but only identified on 25 April 2018.
Both bodies had blunt force trauma.
The trio are behind bars as awaiting trial prisoners.
The State is expected to call 39 witnesses.
According to NPA spokesperson Natasha Kara, Del Vecchio is further charged with malicious injury to property for the damage caused to sugar cane fields belonging to Tongaat Hulett in September 2017. The damage caused the company a loss of approximately R2.3 million.
IOL