'Good hunt': Botanist couple Rachel and Rod Saunders' murderers sent chilling texts before attack
DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA: The Durban High Court was told further gruesome details about the killing of Rachel and Rod Saunders. The British botanist couple were on a seed-hunting expedition in South Africa before they were killed and thrown into the crocodile-infested Tulega river. A few days later, fishermen found their half-eaten bodies.
Allegedly, an ISIS group stole their Toyota Land Cruiser, camping gear, and mobile phones, and used their credit cards for a £37,000 shopping spree. Pathologists who requested anonymity for safety reasons described the couple's tragic demise in front of the court.
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'Elderly couple' who would make a 'good hunt'
The botanists, who owned a seed distribution firm based in Cape Town, embarked on a six-month excursion to collect scarce gladioli seeds from the wilderness, which they subsequently marketed worldwide. They traveled 900 kilometers from their residence to the Drakensberg Mountains to rendezvous with a BBC documentary production team led by host Nick Bailey to record an episode of Gardeners' World.
After filming, they traveled 90 miles north of Durban to Ngoye Forest National Park, a remote location, where they pitched their tent and began searching for gladioli seeds. However, text messages retrieved from the alleged killers' mobile phones described them as an "elderly couple" who would be a "good hunt." Aslam Del Vecchio, 41, his wife Bibi Fatima Patel, 31, and their lodger Mussa Ahmad Jackson, 37, are accused of pursuing the victims, brutally murdering them, and then disposing off their bodies, as per the Mirror's report.
The three defendants, who are purportedly linked with the terrorist group ISIS, pleaded not guilty to all charges, including kidnapping, theft, robbery with aggravating circumstances, and murder. After being wrapped in their sleeping bags, the remains of the Saunders couple were allegedly tossed off a bridge and transported to the crocodile-infested Tugela River. Despite their bodies being washed up within days, it took months to confirm their identities via DNA testing due to crocodile mutilation and decomposition.
While Rod's body was found on February 17, 2018, it wasn't identified until April 2018. Dr Rachel's body was discovered three days prior, but it took until June 2018 for it to be recognized.
In court, Senior Prosecutor Mr Mahen Naidu summoned two forensic pathologists who conducted the postmortems to testify, and give details about their gruesome deaths. Dr Rachel's postmortem pathologist noted that the victim's injuries made it challenging to initially determine if the victim was male or female, according to reports.
'One of the most extreme cases'
The victim's body was "one of the most extreme cases" the doctor had ever encountered in his 40-year career. The expert stated that the victim had been killed by strangling, stab wounds, and blunt trauma before being mutilated by crocodiles, which made her unrecognizable. The doctor said, "I performed the autopsy, and I was not sure as to whether it was a male or a female body given its advanced decomposed state and due to the crocodile injuries. She had been dismembered. There were missing limbs – the right arm, and a leg was not there. The groin was totally eaten out, and there was no breast tissue," according to a report by DailyMail.
He added, "There was no way to determine the gender. I also saw fractures on the skull, spine, neck, and ribcage. There was no hair. There were also multiple stab wounds." The shocking evidence of the killings and the crocodiles' subsequent mutilation of the victims' remains, which were carelessly thrown off a river bridge, left the court in silence as the trial continued.