Durban — A Durban High Court Judge recused herself from presiding over the murder and kidnapping case of husband and wife Rodney Charles Saunders and Dr Rachel May Saunders.
On Tuesday, Sayefundeen Aslam Del Vecchio, Bibi Fatima Patel and Mussa Ahmed Jackson, who are charged with the couple’s murder, appeared in the High Court, where the State had been expected to continue its case.
The Saunders, who were living in Cape Town and had dual UK and South African citizenship, were murdered in the Eshowe area in 2018.
The accused are also charged with robbery and theft. Del Vecchio is further charged with malicious injury to property for the damage caused to sugar-cane fields belonging to Tongaat Hulett in September 2017. The damage caused the company a loss of approximately R2.3 million.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said Judge Balton informed the parties that she was recusing herself as it was brought to her attention that she had dealt with a related Asset Forfeiture Unit preservation application.
“Given the circumstances, she was of the view that the matter should proceed de novo before another judge. Therefore, the matter was adjourned to October 25, 2022 for the allocation of a new trial judge. The accused were remanded in custody as their bail was previously refused.”
Rodney, 74, a known botanist, and his wife Rachel, 64, were travelling around northern KwaZulu-Natal and went missing in the Hlobane area on February 12 in Vryheid. The couple’s vehicle was seized later in February at a property in Ngoye, near Mtunzini, and Del Vechio and Patel were arrested after police swooped on the property in the remote area.
At the time of the couple’s disappearance in February 2018, the Independent on Saturday reported that friends had been trying to get hold of Rod to wish him a happy birthday but his phone was going straight to voicemail.
They had later learned he had been kidnapped in KZN three days earlier.
At that time, the IOS had interviewed Rod’s former colleague and long-time Cape Town friend Andrea Benn as well as fellow botanist Jan Vlok from Oudtshoorn, who has known the Saunders since the ’90s.
Vlok had said that the couple had returned to the Drakensberg that month in the hope of finding a rare gladiolus lily that had eluded them during three previous visits.
“They are working on a book on gladiolus and for several years they have been searching for it,” said Vlok in 2018.
He had explained that it was the fourth time they went to try and get photos of it, adding that it flowered in February, and it could only be found on a single Drakensberg peak.
Daily News
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