THE State believes that more than R700 000 was looted from seven bank accounts belonging to British botanists Rod Saunders, 74, and his wife Rachel, 63, over four days in February 2018.
At the time, police were searching for the couple, who were reported kidnapped on February 12 while on a field trip to the Ngoye Forest near Eshowe in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
Their badly decomposed bodies washed up days apart around the middle of February that year at the Tugela River mouth.
An investigator from the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), specialising in financial crime investigations, testified in the Durban High Court this week about the plunder of the couple’s bank accounts.
The matter is before Judge Esther Steyn.
Bibi Fatima Patel, 31, her husband, Sayefudeen Aslam Del Vecchio, 42, and Malawian Mussa Ahmad Jackson, 35, are the accused.
The State alleges they are responsible for the kidnapping, assault and murder of the Saunders. They are also accused of gaining access to the Saunders’s bank accounts and of having gone on a spending spree.
Large sums of cash were withdrawn and bitcoin purchases were made. More than R30 000 in cash was believed to have been found in the couple’s Eshowe home when they were arrested on February 15, 2018.
Del Vecchio also faces arson charges for allegedly setting alight Tongaat Huletts’s sugar cane fields near uMdloti in September, 2017.
He and Patel were based in the area at the time.
Judge Steyn previously ordered the media not to name witnesses as there were possible Isis links in the matter.
The Hawks investigator said his mandate was to check transactional activity in the Saunders's bank accounts.
He noted large amounts of money, in some instances more than R100 000, being moved between the couple's FNB accounts, using banking apps, and ultimately into the Saunders’s credit and card accounts while they were missing.
There were nine credits to Rachel’s Encore Gold Cheque account, totalling more than R411 000, from their other accounts during the time of the kidnapping.
“I became suspicious because it is irregular for such transactions to occur. They were made using an app on a device.”
Also peculiar for the investigator were the references used for each transfer transaction. Popular references were “1212” and “text”.
He said they paid attention to how the money flowed into certain accounts and the funds were eventually used to pay suppliers and businesses.
Many of the 25 point of sale purchases with the deceased couple’s cards, worth more than R200 000, were made in Durban and the surrounding areas.
A Hawks investigator from the unit focusing on crimes against the State, including terror activities, also testified this week.
He was informed about the Saunders's disappearance, their cards being used, who the suspects were and that they needed to be arrested.
The investigator initiated surveillance of the accused and learnt that the Saunders’s bank cards were being used in the areas they had travelled to.
Del Vecchio and Patel were arrested at their Eshowe home. The investigator informed them of their rights but did not search the property even though he had legal grounds to do so. Instead, he waited for the lead investigators to arrive on the scene with a search warrant.
When the search was eventually conducted, items found included food, boxes of cellphones, camping gear, a drone and a till slip from the Cape Union Mart store at the Pavilion shopping mall in Durban.
The investigator also requested clothing items be taken for forensic analysis as he suspected it contained blood spots and DNA.
Bulelani Mazomba, the attorney representing Patel and Del Vecchio, objected to the submissions made by the investigator and said the admissibility was in question because the arrest and search of his clients’ property were not in accordance with the law.
He requested a trial-within-a trial to test the admissibility of the investigators' evidence.
Senior State prosecutor, advocate Mahen Naidu, in opposing Mazomba’s request, said: “The witness was clear that the accused were placed under arrest and he had the right to search.
“If Mr Mazomba has any instructions on the credibility of the witnesses’ submissions, it can be dealt with under cross examination.”
Judge Steyn also disagreed with Mazomba.
“What is the purpose of the trial-within-a trial when cross examination can be used to test the veracity of the witnesses’ testimony.
“The State has already indicated that the officer had the right to search without a warrant according to Section 23 of the Criminal Procedure Act,” Judge Steyn said.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE