A British botanist was beaten, stabbed and strangled to death before she and her husband were thrown to crocodiles by alleged Isis sympathisers in South Africa, a court has heard.

Rachel Saunders, 63, and her 74-year-old spouse Rod, also a respected plant expert, had recently finished recording filming for an episode of the BBC’s Gardeners’ World when they were ambushed in a remote forest in February 2018.

Sayfudeen Aslam Del Vecchio, 41, his wife Bibi Fatima Patel, 30, and their lodger Mussa Ahmed Jackson, 35, are accused of brutally murdering the couple before zipping them up in their own sleeping bags and throwing them into a river.

They then allegedly made off in their Toyota Land Cruiser and withdrew £37,000 in local currency using their credit cards.

The pathologist who performed Rachel’s autopsy told the High Court in Durban on Friday said it was ‘one of the most extreme cases’ he’d seen in his 40-year career.

Her body was so badly mutilated that he was ‘not sure as to whether it was a male or female’, although enough remained to determine how she was killed.

The doctor, who cannot be named over fears for their safety, said: ‘She had been dismembered. There were missing limbs – the right arm and a leg were not there. The groin was totally eaten out and there was no breast tissue.

‘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.’

Another pathologist previously told the court the victims’ heavily disfigured bodies showed evidence of ‘scavenger activity’, suggesting crocodiles tore chunks from them before rats and dogs continued once they floated ashore.

Asked about the analysis, the second pathologist said he agreed, adding: ‘The violent nature in which the body was dismembered suggests crocodiles may have fed on it.There were ragged bites all over the body.

‘However the stab wounds were well defined about 2cm deep and the marks on her neck suggested strangulation and the cause of death is due to multiple injuries.’

Rod Saunders was said to have died from blunt trauma injuries.

It would take months for DNA tests to identify the bodies found in the River Tugela as those of the couple.

Dr Rachel Saunders, a microbiologist, and Rodney, a horticulturist, had been married for 30 years, and spent half of each year collecting rare Gladioli seeds in the South African wilderness to ship around the world.

On February 4, 2018, they were joined in their search by a crew from the BBC show Gardeners’ World and presenter Nick Bailey, who interviewed the pair.

A selfie taken by Mr Bailey and shared on his Twitter account was the final picture taken of the Saunders while they were alive.

After returning from filming in the Drakensberg Mountains and leaving the camera crew, the couple headed for the Ngoye Forest, where they were found dead.

Prosecutors say the trio were arrested after police found evidence linking their mobile phones with those of the victims.

Detectives allegedly found messages discussing ‘killing the kuffar [Arabic for ‘non-believers’]’ and saying there was a couple in the forest who would make a ‘good hunt’.

Isis pamphlets and flags were also allegedly found at their home, though lawyers for the accused previously claimed police had exaggerated their alleged links to the terror group.

All three defendants deny kidnap, murder, robbery and theft. The trial continues.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Source: Read Full Article