A Durban court has sentenced three people to life in prison for the brutal 2018 murders of a British botanist couple who were kidnapped while collecting seeds in a KwaZulu-Natal forest.

Rachel Saunders (64) and her husband Rodney (73) were abducted in the Ngoye Forest, about 150 kilometres north of Durban, where they had been gathering plant specimens. Their decomposing bodies were discovered days later in a nearby river.

Sayefudeen Aslam Del Vecchio (46), his wife Fatima Patel (36), and Malawian national Musa Jackson (43) were convicted of the murders last month. The Durban High Court on Thursday sentenced them to two terms of life imprisonment, along with concurrent jail time for kidnapping, robbery and theft.

The National Prosecuting Authority said the trio had also been found guilty of stealing the couple’s vehicle, camping equipment and a credit card. The card was later used to make purchases totalling more than R700 000.

Investigators found Islamic State literature and a flag during a search of Del Vecchio and Patel’s home at the time of the crime. Dutch media reported in 2018 that a suspected Dutch jihadist had attempted to purchase bitcoins using Rachel Saunders’ credit card details.

The Saunders, who also held South African citizenship, were highly respected botanists who operated a seed store in Cape Town. They were known in botanical circles for their expertise in indigenous plants and seed collection.

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