Story audio is generated using AI
Sayfudeen del Vecchio, Fatima Patel and Musa Jackson were sentenced to life imprisonment in the Durban high court on Thursday for the murders of acclaimed British botanists Rodney and Rachel Saunders.
Judge Esther Steyn sentenced the trio, who were linked to Isis, to four years for kidnapping, 15 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances and four years for theft, on top of the two counts of murder. Del Vecchio, 46, who was also convicted of malicious injury to property, received an additional five years’ imprisonment.
Sentencing proceeded with only Jackson, 43, in the dock, as Del Vecchio and Patel, 36, opted not to present themselves before the judge, as they have done several times throughout the six-year trial.
The two only appeared briefly before Steyn during their three-day conviction hearing last month.
The judge said punishment had to fit the crime, and given the scourge of crime in society, a lack of remorse, no apparent explanation of a motive other than greed, as the couple were “hunted for what they possessed”, there was no reason to deviate from the minimum prescribed sentence.
Steyn acknowledged the defence as well as the state in bringing the case to finalisation and praised police for their conduct and efforts to leave “no stone unturned” to ensure justice for Rodney, 73, and Rachel, 64, Saunders.
The internationally acclaimed botanist and microbiologist had travelled into the Ngoye forest, near Eshowe in KwaZulu-Natal, on February 8 2018 “in search of rare and unique seeds” after completing filming for a BBC documentary in the Drakensberg.
They were later accosted while travelling with research and camping equipment, before being kidnapped and robbed of their belongings.
The NPA said the accused then gained access to the victims’ mobile banking applications and carried out “numerous transactions and cash withdrawals totalling more than R700,000”.
Evidence revealed the couple were tortured and killed and their bodies were dumped in the crocodile-infested Tugela River.
Del Vecchio was also found guilty of malicious damage to property after the court accepted evidence that he had set fire to three farms belonging to Tongaat Hulett in September 2017.
Del Vecchio and Patel’s legal representative, advocate Shaheen Seedat, and Jackson’s lawyer, Patrick Mkhumbuzi, said they would study the judgment before filing leave to appeal the sentences.
TimesLIVE
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.