This tragedy sounds as if it came from the 15th century…
A British couple was violently killed and had their bodies thrown into a pit of alligators in South Africa.
The couple was killed by a violent gang at a remote South African nature reserve.
Rob and his wife Rachel Saunders were both botanists looking for seeds in South Africa for their widescale e-commerce business.
But while they were searching for seeds a gang kidnapped them and beat them to death and proceeded to feed them to crocodiles.
A British couple, Rod and Rachel Saunders, who introduced British viewers on the BBC to the world of botany, were butchered and fed to crocodiles by a gang of kidnappers in South Africa.
FULL STORY: https://t.co/ugGjGg4wbV pic.twitter.com/iIn7mXzFY6
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) October 5, 2022
🔔 | British couple killed and thrown to crocodiles days after being interviewed by BBC
More below: pic.twitter.com/L6LF6cq8SL
— LADbible (@ladbible) October 4, 2022
Here’s what the Daily Mail reported about the tragedy:
A British couple were brutally murdered and their bodies thrown to crocodiles by a ruthless gang who pounced as they searched a remote South African nature reserve for rare seeds in 2018, a court heard.
Respected botanists Rod Saunders, 74, and wife Rachel, 63, spent six months a year scouring wild mountains and forests for sought-after-stock for their thriving worldwide mail-order business.
But while on their travels, it was said they met a gruesome end when they were targeted, kidnapped, beaten to death and then put in their sleeping bags and thrown into a river infested with man-eaters.
Their badly decomposed bodies, which had been devoured by the reptiles when they were pulled out of the water by fishermen days later, were unrecognisable as the missing couple and were brought to mortuaries.
It was only months later when police could find no trace of the British couple that they ordered all unidentified or unclaimed bodies in morgues to be DNA tested. It was then that Rod and Rachel were identified.
British couple 'beaten to death and their bodies thrown to crocodiles' https://t.co/pZPMnIf12X
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) October 4, 2022
Metro UK had more to add:
A British couple was murdered by a ruthless gang as they searched a remote South African nature reserve for rare seeds, a court heard.
Botanists Rachel Saunders, 63, and Rod Saunders, 74, were kidnapped and beaten to death in the Ngoye Forest Reserve.
They had their bodies thrown into a crocodile-infested river in February 2018.
The pair, who were married for 30 years, were scouring wild mountains and forests for their business Silverhill Seeds, based in Cape Town.
Their decomposed bodies were discovered by fishermen days after they were killed – but they were not identified until April.
Police arrested four people, three of whom were charged with murder, kidnap, robbery and theft.
Sayefundeen Aslam Del Vecchio, 39, his wife Bibi Fatima Patel, 28, and their lodger at the time Mussa Ahmad Jackson, 35, have denied all charges at Durban High Court.
A fourth suspect, who was found to have bought the cellphones belonging to the couple and was not involved in the murders, was given a suspended sentence in exchange for vital evidence.
British couple, both respected botanists, murdered in South Africa before being thrown to crocodiles a few days after being filmed for a BBC documentary in 2018. Four suspects have been charged and are currently on trial.https://t.co/tPPeKuAzVA
— Lotus Eaters News (@lotuseatersnews) October 5, 2022
Join the conversation!
Please share your thoughts about this article below. We value your opinions, and would love to see you add to the discussion!