An ISIS-affiliated gang who savagely murdered a British couple and fed their blood-soaked remains to crocodiles were handed life sentences yesterday. Internationally renowned horticulturists Rod, 74, and his wife Rachel, 63, were ambushed and slaughtered in South Africa just days after filming a special episode for BBC's Gardeners' World.
TV presenter Nick Bailey spent a day with the celebrated wildflower experts filming a documentary, bidding them farewell, only for the pair to be brutally killed just 48 hours later. The couple had parted ways with Nick and his crew in the Drakensberg Mountains and made their way to a remote forest, where they planned to search for rare gladioli flowers to harvest their seeds.
Tragically, an ISIS-inspired killer spotted the couple setting up camp and recruited his Muslim wife and their Muslim convert lodger into a callous plot to rob and murder them. Last month, Sayefundeen Del Vecchio, 44, his wife Bibi Fatima Patel, 34, and lodger Mussa Jackson, 40, were convicted of double murder, kidnapping and armed robbery. Yesterday, ringleader Del Vecchio and his wife Patel refused to leave their cells at Durban High Court to face sentencing, leaving Jackson alone in the dock to receive his judgment, reports the Daily Star.
Judge Esther Steyn detailed how Rod and Rachel were bound and subjected to horrific torture as their attackers demanded Rachel's gold card credit card PIN and bank details, before the couple were mercilessly killed. A machete-like blade, a knife and a heavy object were used to batter, slash and stab the couple to death, before Del Vecchio trussed them up inside their sleeping bags.
Del Vecchio, an ISIS-supporting fanatic, had previously told his wife and lodger that the elderly couple were a "good hunt" and a "target" he was tracking on February 9, 2018.
His wife Patel and lodger Jackson met Del Vecchio at the Tugela River Bridge in the Ngoye Forest National Park, 90 miles north of Durban in Kwa-Zulu Natal province, as directed.
There, they helped him remove the murdered Rod and Rachel from their blood-soaked 4x4 and hurled their bodies, encased in sleeping bags, over the edge into the crocodile-infested river below.
Their remains were discovered a week later, but had been so extensively mutilated by predators and other wildlife that it took three pathologists, including a dental expert, months to formally identify them.
All three faced charges of double murder, kidnapping and aggravated burglary, and received two double life sentences plus a further 23 years yesterday.
The court was told that the devoted couple had been wed for 30 years and lived in Cape Town, but annually they would travel 1000 miles north to search for rare flower seeds in the wilderness.
They had encountered TV presenter Bailey to film in the Drakensberg Mountains and had their final photograph taken with him before pressing on with their expedition where they tragically perished.
Nick posted a selfie of the three of them on his Instagram, commending their "incredible insight and knowledge" of South African flora and fauna while expressing his appreciation for their filming contribution.
That was in 2018, but it has required eight years for justice to be delivered through the sluggish court system for the trio who killed Rod and Rachel somewhere between eShowe and Mthunzini.
