Alleged ISIS loyalists in court for botanists' murder

24 August 2018 - 09:44 By Jeff Wicks

Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.

Horticulturalist and BBC presenter Nick Bailey posted this selfie with British couple Rod and Rachel Saunders on February 8. File photo.
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.

Body of missing UK botanist Rachel Saunders finally found

The body of 63-year-old British botanist Rachel Saunders‚ who had been missing since February‚ has been found‚ the Hawks confirmed on Wednesday.

News

5 years ago

Mosque attack has ‘hallmarks of Islamic State’

The attack on a Shia mosque in Ottawa‚ north of Durban‚ in which a man died and two clergymen were injured‚ bore all the hallmarks of an Islamic ...

News

5 years ago

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.