Johannesburg - The Durban High Court heard this week how Rachel and Rob Saunders were thrown into a crocodile infested river before their suspected ISS affiliated killers went on a spending spree using their bank cards.
Pathologists on Thursday told how their bodies that were found along the banks of the Tugela river in KwaZulu-Natal were so badly mutilated by crocodiles and other scavengers that it took months to identify them through DNA.
Aslam Del Vecchio, his wife Bibi Fatima Patel, and their lodger Mussa Ahmad Jackson, the State alleges, murdered the botanists, wrapped their bodies in sleeping bags and threw them off a bridge into the Tugela river.
The trio, who have suspected ISIS terrorist links, have pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances, theft and murder.
According to media reports, the court heard that the couple who collected rare seeds and sold them worldwide had left their Cape Town home on February 4, 2018.
Their plan was to travel and meet up with a BBC TV film crew, but they disappeared when they entered the Ngoye Forest in the Kwazulu-Natal Midlands. The last they were heard from was on February 8.
It was here, the State alleges, that the accused spotted the elderly couple. Text messages recovered from the killers’ cellphones described how the couple would be a “good hunt”.
Two pathologists giving evidence for the State gave an account of the couple’s last moments. Both pathologists, media reported, didn't want their names released out of fear for their safety. One of them told how Rachel died of strangulation, stab wounds and blunt trauma injuries. But it was decomposition and mutilation by crocodiles that made identification difficult. The pathologist couldn’t even determine the gender of the corpse.
Rachel’s body was found on February 15, but was only identified in June. Rod, the other pathologist stated, died of blunt force trauma and his corpse also revealed scavenging activity by crocodiles.
After the trio allegedly disposed of the bodies in the river, the State gave evidence, they stole the couple’s Toyota Landcruiser and camping equipment and withdrew R734 000 from various ATMs.
The breakthrough in the case came when the Hawks discovered cellphone evidence that linked the Saunders’ phones to those of the suspects.
Upon searching the suspects’ homes police found ISIS pamphlets and flags.
Jackson told police that he had assisted the other accused in throwing the bodies that were in the back of the Landcruiser into the river.
The trial continues.