High drama played out in the Durban high court on Tuesday when the judge presiding over the murder trial of internationally renowned botanists Rodney and Rachel Saunders was forced to recuse herself in an unexpected twist.
Judge Sharmaine Balton was left with no option but to step aside as presiding judge against the trio charged with the 2018 kidnapping and murder of the elderly couple due to a technicality over a preservation order she had previously granted in the matter.
It is understood the trial against Sayfudeen Aslam Del Vecchio, 39, his partner Bibi Fatima Patel, 28, and their Malawian boarder Mussa Ahmed Jackson, 35, who are accused of the Saunders' murders, was furnished with the preservation order by the sheriff of the court before the start of proceedings.
Legal Aid attorneys Bulelani Mazomba, representing Del Vecchio and Patel, and Patrick Mkumbuzi, representing Jackson, had sight of the preservation order and wasted no time in raising the matter when proceedings commenced.
It is understood Balton granted the order in respect of evidence required to be preserved for the purposes of trial. As a result, she would have been privy to evidence which had not yet been presented in court, possibly tainting her judgment.
When it was brought to her attention, she realised she granted the order and recused herself.
The matter was adjourned to October 25 for the appointment of a new judge.
The Saunders’ were well-respected within the horticulturist community, having established Silverhill Seeds in Cape Town in 1995, a company that offers Southern African flora seeds to consumers across the globe, before their disappearance on February 10 2018.
At the time they had been touring northern KwaZulu-Natal in search of rare seeds after departing with a BBC film crew in the Drakensberg’s Ithala area on February 8 2018, where they had been filming a production with Gardeners’ World presenter Nick Bailey.
On February 15 2018 Del Vecchio and Patel were arrested at their homestead in Endlovini, northern KwaZulu-Natal, a stone’s throw away from oNgoye Forest, the last known location of the murdered couple.
Jackson was arrested during a sting operation in Newlands, Durban, on March 22 that year.
Apart from double murder, the trio face charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances, theft and malicious damage to property.
They were previously accused of having links to Isis and charged with contravention of the Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Act, but the charge has since been dropped.
The National Prosecuting Authority has been approached for comment.
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