UK botanists’ murder trial resumes on Monday
Three people accused of the murder of British-born botanists Rodney and Rachel Saunders are due back in the dock in the Durban High Court on Monday.
Safydeen Aslam Del Vecchio, his wife Fatima Patel and Ahmad Jackson Mussa are accused of kidnapping, robbing and killing the elderly Cape Town couple in 2018.
They were making a video documentary in Vryheid when they disappeared.
It's alleged they were hunted down in the Ngoyi Forest and attacked.
Their bodies were thrown into the Tugela River.
READ: Arson attack on sugarcane fields takes centre stage at Saunders’ murder trial
Their murder trial got underway under tight security last week.
The prosecution team dealt with an incident of arson in 2017, when sugarcane fields belonging to Tongaat Hulett and valued at more than R2-million were torched.
It's understood that Del Vecchio was granted access to them under the alleged pretence of wanting to see the sunset.
The company didn't renew his access due to complaints that Del Vecchio had been hunting and destroying indigenous trees.
