A tragic selfie taken by BBC presenter Nick Bailey is believed to be the last photo of British-South African botanists Rachel and Rodney Saunders before they were murdered and fed to crocodiles in South Africa.
The couple, who ran a rare seed business in Cape Town, were interviewed by Bailey for an episode of Gardeners' World while searching for rare Gladioli flowers in the Drakensberg Mountains. The selfie, posted on Bailey's Twitter account, and a photo by producer Robin Matthews are thought to be the last images of them alive.
The Saunders were last in contact with an employee on February 8, three days after meeting the BBC, and were heading to the Ngoye Forest Reserve. Their decomposed bodies were later found; Rodney's was discovered in the Tugela river a week after the killing.
Three suspects—Sayefundeen Aslam Del Vecchio, his wife Bibi Fatima Patel, and lodger Mussa Ahmad Jackson—have denied charges of kidnapping, murder, robbery, and theft at Durban High Court. Del Vecchio and Patel were on a watchlist, and police allege they once flew an Islamic State flag at their home, though lawyers dispute the extent of extremist links.
The court heard that the couple were beaten to death, placed in sleeping bags, and thrown into a crocodile-infested river. Receipts from Dr Saunders' bank card were found in Patel's handbag, and a message from Del Vecchio referred to the elderly couple as a 'hunt' and a 'target'.
