Jason Rohde 'told two different stories'
Colleague first to give evidence in mogul’s trial for wife’s murder
PROPERTY mogul Jason Rohde, who is on trial for the alleged murder of his wife Susan Rohde, was overheard giving separate accounts of events that led to her death, the Western Cape High Court heard. Mark Thompson, an operations manager at Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty, where Rohde’s was chief executive, said Rohde’s statement to the police was a complete contradiction from what he had told Susan’s father.
While in an ambulance, Rohde allegedly told police of a fight. “He said ‘we had a fight and at around 7am Susan went into the bathroom in a huff and slammed the door’. He then fell asleep,” said Thompson.
However, to the family, Rohde allegedly gave another version.
“Jason said to his father-in-law that she was running and she tripped. Her dad asked: did she trip? And he quickly replied, no, she slipped,” he said.
Thompson was the first State witness called in the trial. He recalled having breakfast at the Spier Hotel where the property company was having its year-end function. He recalled being told that a woman had tried to commit suicide in room 221.
Thompson said by the time he arrived at the scene, Susan was on the floor. He said he spent 40 minutes doing CPR on her.
“The striking thing of that scene was her nakedness. In that event it was disturbing that she was naked while I did CPR. Her breasts exposed.
“I kept crying and tears would fall on her neck. I also kept looking at the big bruise up her thigh. Her whole puberty was exposed. The indignity and intimacy of that occasion stood out.”
According to Thompson, the entire time that he was trying to resuscitate the mother-of-three, her husband only helped him once.
“He kept saying Mark, help me, repeatedly, like it was a mantra. He never said Susan I love you. I would be saying I love you, what about our children, or I am sorry because as her husband I would have failed to support her.”
Thompson described the lifeless body. “Her whole neck was bruised as opposed to a thin line that I had anticipated. Her body was cold, lips blue and she was porcelain white.”
Defence advocate Piet Mahalik highlighted some discrepancies in Thompson’s testimony compared with photographs taken on the day, such as the neck bruise. In the photos, the bruise was very clear and defined.
Susan’s body was found in the bathroom of their hotel room at the Spier Wine Estate in July last year. Rohde has pleaded not guilty. The trial continues today.