The Pietermaritzburg High Court sentenced two men to life imprisonment on Monday for the murder of Underberg forester Daniel Knight.
Judge Jerome Mnguni also imposed 15 years on Tshepiso Ramongale, 28, and Bonginkosi Nyawose, 33, for the aggravated robberies of Knight and his partner Beth Bucher.
Knight and Bucher were attacked in their Himeville home in October last year by a group of four men.
He was tied up and was told by the men that they had come for money and guns. Knight told them that there was no money and he offered to write them a cheque.
They repeatedly struck him on his head with a hammer until he died.
Bucher was assaulted, tied to a washbasin pedestal, and a surgeon's glove was stretched over her nostrils and mouth. She saved herself from suffocation by sucking part of the glove into her mouth and biting a hole into it.
Bucher, who ran a firewood business, subsequently left the district for the coast.
An alleged accomplice, Lucky Gcina, 24, was acquitted in October.
Sapa