Mossel Bay couple ‘butchered’ by suspected poachers in Kruger National Park

A RETIREMENT village in Mossel Bay is reeling following the brutal murder of Ernst Marais, 71, and his wife Dina, 73, whose bodies were discovered in a crocodile-infested river in the Kruger National Park on Friday.

- BRANDO NEL

The couple, residents of the Fynbos Heights retirement village, had been on a short getaway to the park when they were allegedly intercepted by a group of suspected rhino poachers. According to a leaked internal security report, the suspects tied the couple's hands behind their backs before repeatedly stabbing them in the upper body.

The victims’ bodies were subsequently dragged to the banks of the Levubu River at Crooks’ Corner and dumped into the water near its confluence with the Limpopo River, an area known for high Nile crocodile activity.