It has yet to be confirmed who the presiding judge will be in a high-profile double murder matter with possible ISIS links, where two accomplished British botanists were the victims.
However, dates for the re-run of the trial were set at the Durban High Court this week.
The pre-trial will resume in March.
Thoba Poyo-Dlawati, the acting KwaZulu-Natal Judge President, handled Wednesday’s pre-trial conference in the matter of the State versus Del Vecchio and others.
The trial began in May, but proceedings must now start from scratch because the previous judge, Sharmane Balton, recused herself last month.
It has been alleged that Rod Saunders, 74, and his wife Rachel, 63, were kidnapped and murdered during a road-trip through KZN in February 2018.
Bibi Fatima Patel, 28, her husband Sayefudeen Aslam Del Vecchio, 39, and Malawian national, Mussa Ahmad Jackson, 35, face the related murder, kidnapping and theft charges.
The couple were arrested when police raided their home in Eshowe, northern KZN. Jackson was arrested a few weeks later.
Saunders and his wife were based in Cape Town at the time of their deaths.
The State alleged they were kidnapped, assaulted, and their bodies dumped in the Tugela River.
The accused had also accessed the deceased couple’s bank accounts, withdrew cash and went on a shopping spree, according to the State.
When the trial commenced in May, it ran for nearly a month.
Senior State prosecutor, advocate Mahen Naidu led 15 witnesses in that time.
The matter resumed on October 3 and Naidu led two more witnesses.
It was then brought to Balton’s attention that she had also presided over the preservation application brought by the National Prosecuting Authorities' Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) against Del Vecchio and his spouse, a few days earlier.
Balton recused herself from the matter.
The judiciary is yet to provide an explanation for Balton handling the AFU’s application to seize assets, when she was already the trial judge in the Del Vecchio matter.
The Sunday Tribune’s questions to the judiciary were once again unanswered.
Attorney Patrick Mkumbuzi is Jackson’s legal representative, while attorney Bulelani Masondo is defending the couple.
Del Vecchio got a chance to speak after he raised his hand during proceedings.
“My lady, I was hoping, since the trial will start again, for a chance to consult with my attorney before we begin,” he said.
Judge Poyo-Dlwati assured Del Vecchio his request will be accommodated.
She said she would liaise about these and other details with the judge who would be appointed to the matter.
“I’m not sure who that will be,” she said.
Poyo-Dlwati acknowledged that much time had already elapsed on this matter and she also asked Del Vecchio to “cooperate” with their attorney to prevent further delays.
Naidu and the defence attorneys confirmed they were ready for trial.
He said among the State’s 70 witnesses, experts in DNA, post-mortem, digital forensics and video analysis were expected to testify.
A forensic anthropologist, who was also on the list, is likely to provide skeletal analysis evidence on how the couple's badly decomposed bodies, which washed up on riverbanks, were identified.
Naidu confirmed all the relevant evidence was shared with the defence.
Mkumbuzi said he will object to admissibility of the confession made by his client previously, as he maintained it was not done “freely“.
Police received an alert on February 12, 2018, that the Saunders’ were kidnapped, they kept an eye on their banking transactions and tracked the movements of the accused.
When the unemployed couple were arrested three days later, various items were seized, including R39 200 in Patel’s handbag.
Investigators believed Del Vecchio and his wife had allegedly taken control and plundered the deceased’s seven bank accounts.
More than R400 000 was channelled into a particular account held by Rachel from the couple’s other accounts.
Eight cash withdrawals worth R35 000 and 25 point of sale purchases totalling nearly R210 000 were made from the same account.
Through cellphone and financial tracking techniques and video footage, investigators connected the accused’s movements to the various transactions linked to the deceased’s bank accounts.
They were also able to establish that numerous messages were exchanged between the accused from the time of the kidnapping.
Jackson, also known as “Bazooka”, lived with his co-accused, but fled when police raided Del Vecchio’s home.
The attorneys for the accused indicated they will challenge all the evidence the State gathered.
A few days after the raid, Del Vecchio’s neighbour, Thembamandla Xulu was arrested for being in possession of two phones belonging to the deceased.
Xulu helped himself to the phones that Jackson left behind.
He was charged for being in possession of stolen property and he has since entered into a plea sentence arrangement with the State.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE