Alleged ISIS loyalists in court for botanists' murder
Image: Nick Bailey via Twitter
Alleged Isis loyalists Sayfudeen Aslam Del Vecchio‚ his wife Fatima Patel and former friend Ahmad “Bazooka” Mussa are expected to appear in the Verulam Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
The trio stand accused of the kidnapping and murder of Cape Town botanists Rod and Rachel Saunders.
The elderly British-born botanists are understood to have been killed while touring KwaZulu-Natal in February.
Del Vecchio‚ Patel and Mussa are alleged to have drained the Saunders’ bank accounts and then killed them‚ before dumping their bodies from a bridge into a crocodile-infested river.
TimesLIVE previously reported that startling allegations that the vanished couple may have been stalked as a “good hunt” by Del Vecchio and Patel‚ apparently to "strike fear into the hearts of those opposed" to Isis‚ had been before court.
The evidence‚ the police alleged‚ had been gathered by combing through messages on phones seized from Del Vecchio and Patel.
They face charges of murder‚ kidnapping‚ robbery and contravening domestic counter-terrorism laws.