Rohde trial postponed after State forensic pathologist’s failure to appear in court

JASON Rohde’s murder trial has been postponed after State forensic pathologist Dr Akmal Coetzee-Khan failed to appear.

The property mogul is accused of killing his wife Susan Rohde, 47, and staging the murder as a suicide.

She died on July 24 last year. It was initially believed that she had committed suicide and had hanged herself from the bathroom door at the Spier Wine Estate.

However, police later opened a murder investigation and her husband was charged with the murder.

Coetzee-Khan previously stated that Susan had died of manual strangulation and external airway obstruction.

He was still under cross- examination by the defence.

Yesterday, the case was remanded to Monday as it was alleged that Coetzee-Khan had taken ill, but no sick note was handed to Western Cape High Court Judge Gayaat Salie-Hlophe.

Coetzee-Khan was given off until Monday when he will have to provide the court with a sick note. The case has been postponed to October 30.

Last week, Coetzee-Khan was grilled in court by defence advocate Graham van der Spuy who questioned the doctor’s professionalism and methodology in finding the cause of death.

Van der Spuy told the court he would be arguing Coetzee-Khan’s professionalism.

There are certain variables in his calculations of the time of death interval which were not included in the pathologist’s notes, for which the defence wanted an explanation.

“I think it is important to get clarity that as an expert you made certain fundamental mistakes in your approach,” said Van der Spuy.

He asked Coetzee-Khan for a copy of his logbook, notes on at least five incident crime scene reports conducted prior to July 24, 2016 – the day Susan died – and a copy of his letter of appointment. –

IT IS IMPORTANT TO GET CLARITY THAT AS AN EXPERT YOU MADE CERTAIN FUNDAMENTAL MISTAKES IN YOUR APPROACH