Saunders murder trial: Alleged mastermind admits being on farm
The lawyer of the man alleged to have masterminded the deaths of botanists, Rodney and Rachel Saunders, had admitted he was at the Tongaat Hullett's sugarcane farms on the day the massive fires broke out, months before the elderly pair was murdered.
Safydeen Del Vecchio, his wife, Fatima Patel and Ahmad Jackson Mussa are accused of kidnapping, robbing and killing the Cape Town couple in Vryheid 2018.
They'd been making a video documentary near Bivane Dam when they disappeared.
The State has been dealing with a R2.3 million arson case that took place in the north of Durban in 2017.
It is understood to be unrelated to the murders.
The Durban High Court previously heard Del Vecchio was granted access to one part of the sugarcane farms, apparently to watch the sunset.
But his access was revoked after complaints that he had been hunting and destroying indigenous trees.
A security guard last week told the court he'd seen Del Vecchio driving in a bakkie and starting one of the fires with a white substance he had thrown onto the ground.
During cross examination on Monday, the guard added that Del Vecchio had a companion in the passenger seat who resembled a child.
Del Vecchio’s attorney admitted that his client was on the farms on the day of the fires - but only because he wanted to see them for himself.
He claimed the blazes began before the Italian national got there.
