Wife killer Rohde jailed for 20 years
Judge slams defence for ‘patriarchal views’
IN TWO femicide cases before the Western Cape High Court yesterday, wife killer Jason Rohde was sentenced to 20 years in prison, while Rob Packham, accused of murdering his wife, Gill, was refused bail pending his trial.
Judge Gayaat Salie-Hlophe sentenced former property mogul Rohde to 18 years in prison for the murder of Susan Rohde, and five years for defeating the ends of justice. Three of the five years are to run concurrently with the 18 years, meaning Rohde will spend an effective 20 years behind bars.
While sentencing Rohde, Judge Salie-Hlophe said one love story trumped several relationships in Rohde’s life – the love for himself. The judge said that throughout his murder trial the court had heard of the big loves in his life – from marrying his childhood sweetheart, Susan, to the relationship with his mistress, Jolene Alterskye, and the platonic love for his three daughters.
“Yet, during the commission of these crimes, one big love story trumped all others. That is the story of malignant self-love. The love for yourself. In the course of murdering your wife and setting the scene that she had taken her own life, no other interests, desires and care mattered than that of your own,” Judge Salie-Hlophe said.
The former property mogul was found guilty of murdering Susan on July 24, 2016 while they attended a gala dinner at Spier in Stellenbosch. Susan was found dead with an electric cord around her neck and tied to the bathroom door hook.
Judge Salie-Hlophe also criticised Rohde’s counsel for having “patriarchal and antiquated” viewpoints.
“Your counsel argued on your behalf that the murder was not for financial gain but was a crime of passion which ought to be viewed as mitigatory. Susan, he argued, pursued your infidelity with proactiveness and with interrogation.
“The suggestion is that your wife ought to have been more subservient and accepting of your infidelity and ought to have restrained her objections and interrogations. That she did not do this resulted in the perfect storm of your quarrel, and that it was in the exigencies of these events that the offence happened.
“She got killed, and you ought to, therefore, get a lesser sentence. I cannot disagree more. This is a patriarchal and antiquated viewpoint which undermines a woman, and in the context of intimate femicide a wife or girlfriend’s right to dignity and equality before the law,” Judge Salie-Hlophe said.
The National Prosecuting Authority said Rohde’s sentence gave Susan’s family an opportunity to gain closure.
“The NPA wishes to extend its heartfelt appreciation to the 23 State witness in the trial who independently provided the court with credible and reliable evidence that led to the conviction and sentence. We also want to extend our appreciation to the two investigating officers of the Stellenbosch Police Station who worked tirelessly with the prosecutor,” said NPA spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila.
He said they welcomed the court’s rejection of Packham’s attempt to get bail. His R75000 bail was revoked on December 20 after the State alleged he had tried to make contact with his former mistress, who is a potential State witness, through a mutual friend.
The 57-year-old faces another charge of defeating the ends of justice.
On the day Gill went missing, she left home for work in February last year at Springfield Convent School at about 7am. Her body was later found in the boot of a burnt-out BMW near Diep River train station. The State alleges he used a blunt object to hit Gill on the head and set her BMW on fire while her body was in it.
“It is not in the interest of justice to release someone on bail who breaches the strict bail conditions that were set by the Western Cape High Court,” Ntabazalila said. Packham’s trial starts on March 11.