Six years after a British-South African botanist couple was kidnapped and murdered while conducting field research in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, three perpetrators have received the maximum penalty for their crimes. In a ruling delivered Thursday at the KwaZulu-Natal division of Durban High Court, the three convicted individuals were each sentenced to two consecutive life terms for the 2018 killings of 64-year-old Rachel Saunders and 73-year-old Rodney Saunders.
The Saunders, who held dual South African and British citizenship, ran a specialized seed business based in Cape Town. In February 2018, the pair traveled north to KwaZulu-Natal to collect indigenous plant and seed samples, carrying research equipment and camping supplies for their field trip. They were last seen alive on February 10 in Ngoye Forest, a protected reserve roughly 93 miles north of the coastal port city of Durban, when they were abducted by the three perpetrators.
Days after the couple went missing, searchers found their abandoned vehicle covered in blood evidence. Investigators later confirmed that the suspects drained roughly 734,000 South African rand, equivalent to around $44,700, from the couple’s bank accounts. They also used the couple’s stolen bank cards to buy goods in areas surrounding Durban. Rodney Saunders’ body was recovered by fishermen in the Tugela River several weeks after the abduction, while Rachel Saunders’ remains were not identified until June 13, 2018.
The three convicted are 46-year-old Saffydeen Aslam del Vecchio, his 35-year-old wife Fatima Patel, and Malawian national Ahmad Mussa. All three were found guilty of murder, aggravated robbery, and theft last month, following a years-long legal process. Law enforcement took del Vecchio and Patel into custody just five days after the Saunders disappeared, when a search of their property turned up multiple personal items belonging to the slain couple. Mussa was arrested three weeks later.
Alongside the life sentences for murder, the court added 15 years of imprisonment for aggravated robbery and four years for theft for each defendant. Del Vecchio received an additional five-year sentence for an unrelated charge of malicious damage to property. All sentences will run concurrently. The case carries additional context: Patel was previously detained in a 2016 anti-terrorism raid near Johannesburg alongside her brother, though no charges were filed in that incident. Court documents also allege that del Vecchio and Patel raised an Islamic State group flag at the Ngoye Forest reserve the same year the Saunders were killed.