The daughter of an elderly British couple allegedly murdered and dismembered in a suspected South African black magic ritual has warned that their killers could strike again.
Pensioners Anthony “Tony” Dinnis, 73, and Gillian Dinnis, 78, vanished three years ago after three gunmen allegedly attacked them at their remote farm in Middlerus, near Mooi River in KwaZulu-Natal.
A suspected accomplice later allegedly told police that the couple had been killed in a muti murder, in which body parts are taken for black magic rituals believed to give people special powers.
The devastated family believes the couple’s fingers and ears were cut off while they were still alive and sold to a sangoma, or traditional healer, for 50,000 rand (£2,170). Tony and Gillian were then allegedly murdered and their bodies dumped.
Kate Anderson, the couple’s daughter, has now spoken publicly about the case and issued a warning to tourists travelling to South Africa about gangs linked to black magic.
The 55-year-old spoke to The Times three years after her parents disappeared and one year after British tourist Lorna McSorley vanished in the same area.
Speaking from her home in Cape Town, Kate suggested that authorities may be reluctant to confront the issue because many South Africans fear black magic.
“But as these cases show, they are not so rare and something has to be done, or more and more people — including tourists — will be targeted,” she said.
Elderly British couple Anthony and Gillian Dinnis were allegedly kidnapped and killed in South Africa in 2023
Their daughter, Kate Anderson (pictured), has warned that her parents’ killers could strike again
Kate said her father’s diary ended on Sunday, August 27, 2023. The couple were reported missing the next day.
Although there was no obvious sign of a struggle, Gillian’s walking stick was found at the property. That led Kate to believe her mother had been carried away.
After a week of searches around the farm, the family received a ransom demand sent from Gillian’s phone. The message initially sought 2 million rand (£91,000) for the couple’s return.
The demand was later reduced to 50,000 rand (£2,300). However, when Kate asked for a photograph proving that her parents were alive, the sender did not respond.
Her father’s diary indicated that the gardener was the last person known to have seen the couple.
Kate said there was no mobile phone signal in the valley where her parents lived, and that the only nearby place offering free Wi-Fi was a church.
On September 16, police found the gardener at the church. He had Gillian’s SIM card in his phone and was arrested alongside another suspect.
Kate said she saw the gardener’s alleged confession, which described how three men abducted and killed the couple before cutting off their ears and fingers. The body parts were allegedly taken to Johannesburg to be sold as muti.
Gang members allegedly cut off Gillian and Anthony’s (pictured) body parts before travelling five hours to Johannesburg, where they sought a witch doctor to sell the bloodied remains for cash
Pictured: The couple’s home in South Africa, where they are believed to have been kidnapped
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A detective’s affidavit at a March 2024 bail hearing said the gardener had admitted being one of three men involved in the kidnapping.
But the suspect later claimed that cops had beaten him into confessing, and a magistrate ruled the confession could not stand.
In June 2024, charges against the two men were withdrawn, with police citing insufficient evidence, allowing them to walk free, while the third suspect was never traced.
‘They’ve got away with it,’ Kate said. ‘If they’re short of money, they’re going to do it again.’
Her warning comes after the family of Ms McSorley, who vanished while hiking in South Africa last year, said her death must be investigated as murder.
The 71-year-old from Teignmouth, Devon, disappeared in September 2025 after she went on a walk with her partner of 30 years, 82-year-old Leon Probert.
The couple left their hotel to go for a short walk from the Ghost Mountain Inn in the KwaZulu-Natal province to search for local wildlife.
But on the walk, Leon found the heat and distance too stifling, returning to get his hat and leaving Lorna to continue on her own.
It would be the last time he would see her.
To this day, Leon’s partner has not been heard from despite an extensive search operation of the surrounding area after she failed to return three hours later.
Locals in the South African region believe she may have been kidnapped and killed for her body parts used in ‘muti’ rituals.
Last week, Ms McSorley’s brother, Geoff Sheward, wants her case to be treated as a murder investigation and not a missing persons inquiry.
A year on from her disappearance, the 73-year-old said the family can’t yet grieve her death.
‘As bad as it would be to hear any horrible details, knowing nothing is definitely worse,’ he told The Times.
‘We are just in limbo, unable to settle her affairs or know how to grieve.’
The KwaZulu-Natal region’s northern area, where Lorna went missing, is known for being a hotspot for strong ‘muti’ beliefs, which is a type of traditional medicine or magic.
Though most ‘muti’ rituals require parts from plants or animals, there are those who believe the most powerful charms and medicines require human body parts.
These spells are often used by those with the wealth and contacts to procure human body parts, be they business leaders closing a deal, a gangster wishing to protect themselves or a politician seeking high office.
Several locals said that a ‘muti’ killing was the likely cause of Lorna’s death, The Times previously reported.