THREE people have been sentenced to life in prison by a South African court for the kidnapping, robbing and murder of a British couple in February 2018.
Rachel Saunders, 64, and her husband Rodney, 73, were kidnapped while in the Ngoye Forest, 150km (93 miles) north of the port city of Durban.
The British botanists had been collecting indigenous plants and seeds, before their bodies were found days later in a river.
Saffydeen Aslam del Vecchio, 46, his wife Fatima Patel, 35, and Malawian national Ahmad Mussa were convicted of the murders last month and were each sentenced to two life terms by the KwaZulu-Natal division of the Durban High Court on Thursday.
The trio were also found guilty of stealing the couple’s belongings, including bank cards which were used to purchase various items near Durban, the country’s police service said in a statement.
Shortly after the couple’s disappearance, their car was found with blood marks and 734,000 rand (£42,000; $44,700) was reportedly drained from their bank accounts.
In addition to the life terms, the accused were each sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances and four years for theft.
Del Vecchio was also sentenced for five years’ imprisonment regarding an unrelated case of malicious damage to property.
The sentences of the accused will run concurrently.
A map of South Africa with the country highlighted. The cities of Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town are included, as well as the KwaZulu-Natal province.
Patel had previously been arrested, with her brother, in 2016 during a separate anti-terrorism raid closer to Johannesburg. Neither of them were charged. She and del Vecchio were alleged to have hoisted a flag of the Islamic State group in the reserve where the couple disappeared in 2018.
Rachel and Rodney had dual South African and British citizenship, and owned a seed business in Cape Town.
They were on a trip in KwaZulu-Natal province when they were taken and were travelling in a vehicle carrying their research equipment and camping gear, the national prosecuting authority of South Africa said in a statement last month.
The couple were last seen alive on 10 February 2018, with Rodney’s body being found by fishermen in the Tugela river and identified several weeks later. Rachel’s body was identified on 13 June of that year.
Police said that del Vecchio and Patel had been arrested by authorities on 15 February 2018, when their property was searched and items belonging to the deceased were found.
Musa was arrested three weeks later and charged accordingly, the police added.