Two brutal killers who put pillowcases over the heads of British expat grandparents before throwing them off a bridge into a fast-flowing river have been jailed for life.
Roger and Christine Solik had emigrated to start a new life in South Africa but were murdered by two men for resisting as they were robbed of £112, a TV, DVD player and some alcohol.
Father-of-four Roger, 66, and wife Christine, 57, were abducted from their home in a robbery and had their legs tied and bound.
Their bodies were later found in the Izinga River, some 45 miles from their home where they had moved to after leaving Abercynon, South Wales, in the 1980s.
Roger and Christine Solik (pictured) were brutally murdered by armed robbers on their farm
A post mortem found Mr Solik – who suffered from Parkinson’s Disease – died from being suffocated.
Mrs Solik, 57, suffered multiple stab wounds but was still alive when she entered the water – and died from drowning.
Brian Ndlovu, 38, and Thulani Moses Mthembu have both been jailed for life for the murders of the couple.
Ndlovu admitted murdering the Welsh couple at Pietermaritzburg High Court and was sentenced to two life sentences, as well as 10 years for kidnapping and 15 years for house robbery at their home about 100 miles from Durban.
Mthembu, 43, denied the killings on February 17 this year, but was found guilty and handed the same sentence as his accomplice.
Ndlovu told the court in a statement how he and Mthembu waited for the Soliks to go to bed before breaking into their home at The Bend estate in Lions River.
He said: ‘Once certain that the occupants were asleep I broke open the window leading into the dining room of that house.
‘We made our way up the stairs in an attempt to locate the bedroom.’
Ndlovu said they woke the couple and demanded money, but was told there was none in the house and began looting the property before taking a TV, a DVD player and bottles of alcohol.
He said it was Mthembu who then stabbed Mrs Solik after she began ‘resisting’ the intruders.
Christine (pictured) was found a day before her husband Roger
He said: ‘We tied their hands as well as their legs together, placed pillowcases over their heads and loaded them into the boot of their vehicle.
‘We then decided to get rid of them. We drove to Impendle and threw them off the bridge of the Inzinga River into the river.’
Ndlovu said both men used the couple’s bank card to withdraw R2,000 (£112.60) and split it between them.
State advocate Zithulele Nxumalo described the killings as ‘callous and brutal in the extreme.’
The Solick’s son, Gregory, described his family’s experience since the murders as ‘disorientating, painful and beyond comprehension.’
He said in a statement read in court: ‘How does anyone express publicly the devastation of their private loss?
‘What facts could ever help anyone understand the emotion of knowing your parents were fished from out of a river; one of them broken and caught on a branch, the other bloated and eaten by crabs?’
He praised his parents for the ‘rich life’ they had built for themselves after moving from ‘humble beginnings’ in the south Wales valleys.
He said: ‘They will be remembered, and not by the way they were taken but by the way they lived.
‘For the rich life that they built from humble beginnings and for the family they made.’
The couple initially emigrated on a two-year visa but decided to stay.
Christine returned to Wales just a month before the killing for the funeral of her father Glyn.
At the time, their children said: ‘They were totally devoted to each other, and to our family, which has always remained extremely close even as we have moved to different parts of the country.
‘While the loss of our parents has shattered our hearts, the generous spirit with which they lived and loved the world will never leave us. We will always remember them for this, their gift to the world.’
Speaking after the sentence, Kwa-Zulu-Natal Acting Provincial Commissioner, Maj Gen Langa, said: ‘We hope this will give closure to the family who lost their loved ones in a brutal matter.
‘I congratulate the investigative team who persistently pursued the matter and gathered enough evidence and ensured that justice prevailed.’