By GB News (World News) | Created at 2026-06-11 05:37:41 | Updated at 2026-06-11 15:09:18
9 hours ago
An Isis-linked South African gang who violently killed a British couple before feeding their bodies to crocodiles have been found guilty of their murder.
Rod Saunders, 74, and his wife Rachel, 63, were world-renowned botanists searching for rare gladioli flowers in remote mountains.
A court heard how the couple, who were married for 30 years, were ambushed by Muslim convert Sayefundeen Del Vecchio, 44 in 2018.
Acting alone, he tortured the couple for Rachel's Pin and bank account details before being hacked, stabbed and battered to death.
Just 48 hours earlier, the Saunderses, who lived in Cape Town, were being interviewed for the BBC's Gardeners' World in the Drakensberg Mountains, in an episode which aired two years after their passing.
The BBC wildlife documentary crew and horticulturalists were attacked as they were preparing to pitch camp.
Del Vecchio texted his wife, Italian-born Bibi Patel, 34 and fellow Muslim convert and lodger Mussa Jackson, 40, the "prey are in hellfire" after killing them, the court heard.
He told the pair to meet him in a stolen Toyota Land Cruiser, with the couple's bodies put in sleeping bags and thrown in the back.
Rod and Rachel Saunders appeared on BBC's Gardeners' World discussing gladioli flowers in the Drakensberg Mountains
BBC
Post-mortems revealed Rachel was hacked multiple times to the back of her skull with a machete-like heavy blade and stabbed repeatedly in the upper back.
Rod had his skull caved in with same weapon that killed Rachel.
The three then drove to the Tugela River Bridge and threw the bodies to be eaten by crocodiles, but their remains were later washed up in an unrecognisable state.
Two pathologists using DNA, alongside a dental expert, finally identified the couple.
The court heard how the gang of three were caught by greed, having spent £37,000 on Rachel's credit card in just two days, purchasing Bitcoin and sending the couple's savings into their own bank accounts.
South African police unit the Hawks traced the credit card to the gang, who were already on a terror watchlist.
The couple's phones were found, as well as jewellery, camping equipment, laptops, and the bloodstained Toyota.
Judge Esther Steyn found all three guilty of double murder, kidnap, robbery and theft during the case, which took 160 days and heard 60 witnesses.
Tugela River Bridge, where the Saunders' bodies were dumped into crocodile-infested waters
On February 10, Del Vecchio texted his accomplices: "Kill the kuffar (non believers). When the brothers go out and do this work it is very important that the bodies of the victims are never found."
Jackson confessed he saw the bodies of Rod and Rachel Saunders, but later denied it - claiming it had been forced out of him by police.
South African police also found an Isis flag, pamphlets and literature in the house as they raided Del Vecchio's home, but no terror related charges were filed against the trio.
Sentencing has been delayed until June 19 but the trio face a mandatory life sentence, with a minimum of 15 years.
A spokesman for the Saunders family told the court: "Still after so many years the incident itself and the aftermath causes distress to the family.
"It was an awful incident and we do not want to dwell on the event as it was dealt with in detail at the trial."
