Durban - The rerun of the Del Vecchio and others murder trial, which apparently has ISIS links, began on Tuesday in the Durban High Court and will continue tomorrow until June, with Judge Esther Steyn now presiding over the matter.
Steyn replaced Judge Sharmaine Balton, who got proceedings in this matter started in May last year and listened to testimony from various witnesses for nearly a month, before she recused herself.
It emerged that Balton subsequently sat on an asset forfeiture application brought against, Bibi Fatima Patel, 28, and her husband, Sayefudeen Aslam Del Vecchio, 39. Therefore, her recusal became necessary. The third accused in the matter is Malawian Mussa Ahmad Jackson, 35.
It is alleged that the accused were responsible for the kidnapping, assault and deaths of a British couple, Rod Saunders, 74, and his wife Rachel, 63, in February 2018.
The deceased, respected botanists, were in northern KZN when they were reported missing. It is believed that their bodies were placed in sleeping bags before being dumped in the Tugela River, in a section of water infested with crocodiles.
The State, led by advocate Mahen Naidu, also claimed that the accused worked in cahoots to withdraw cash and go on shopping sprees, having gained access to the deceased’s bank accounts. The three were based in Eshowe at the time of their arrest and being charged.
Apart from involvement in the abduction, robbery and murder of the couple, Del Vecchio faces separate charges for allegedly burning sugar fields belonging to the Tongaat Hulett Group, near uMdloti, in September 2017.
In respect of the arson charges, two witnesses were led by Naidu this week, before proceedings were adjourned prematurely on Thursday. Attorney Patrick Mkumbuzi, who represents Patel and Del Vecchio, told the court Patel was feeling ill and wanted to consult a doctor.
“Accused number 1 (Patel) is not well. She has chest pains and a sore throat.” Mkumbuzi said she would consult a medical practitioner on Friday. Therefore, he asked for the matter to be adjourned to tomorrow. “Even now, she is unable to concentrate,” he told the court. Steyn granted the adjournment.
The court ordered that none of the witnesses be named, as they fear reprisals due to the ISIS links. The first witness led by the State on Tuesday was a Tongaat Hulett property manager.
Included in his list of duties was overseeing buildings and farms, which comprised sugar estates, owned by the group. On their properties were some protected land sites like wetlands and forest, in which some species of wild animals roamed.
He testified that on February 16, 2016, he received reports that someone was riding a quad bike on their estates, causing a nuisance and damaging property. He was told that the intruder was damaging indigenous trees and poaching animals like buck.
The manager then engaged with community representatives from uMdloti because most of the complaints centred around that area. Investigations were conducted and the manager got a contact number for the quad bike rider, who was Del Vecchio.
He met Del Vecchio on March 7, 2016, who accepted that he drove on the property, but denied doing any damage or poaching of animals. When asked why he had been trespassing, he said he liked to drive onto the farms and watch sunsets. On September 1, 2017, Huletts experienced fires like never before and struggled to control them.
The 20 fires that broke out in the uMdloti, Hillhead and Blackburn estates were intense, killed off seedlings to their roots and covered an area of more than 20km, with damage estimated at over R2.3 million. He said smoke from the fires would have also posed a risk to air traffic at the nearby King Shaka International Airport. An official employed by a security company contracted to Huletts and was next to testify.
He said once they noticed a Ford Ranger extra-cab bakkie on an estate. They pursued it because it was not permitted to be there. Their suspicions were aroused further when the vehicle did a U-turn and headed towards the direction it had originally travelled from.
There were no fires on the fields in that direction before, but as the Ford passed the same fields they were now ablaze, and fires were close to the roadside. He saw someone throw something out of the vehicle, resulting in a fire with huge flames.
The person he saw in the vehicle before it sped off was a white male with long hair and a beard. Both witnesses said only people who were familiar with the layout of the farms would be able drive through as the Ford vehicle did. Police have established that Del Vecchio lived in the area at the time.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE