Court allows Geffen boss to return home

GEFFEN boss Jason Rohde’s bail conditions have been relaxed so he may return to his home in Gauteng to attend to his daughters.

The Stellenbosch District Court eased the conditions yesterday to allow him to return to the Bryanston, Joburg, home.

Rohde is the chief executive of the property company, Geffen International Franchises.

Rohde is accused of murdering his wife, Susan Rohde, in a hotel room on the Spier Wine Estate near Stellenbosch, where the couple were staying while attending an international property conference at the estate.

The accused is no longer confined to his sister’s Melkbosstrand, Cape Town, home and no longer has to obtain special permission to visit his three daughters in Joburg.

While magistrate Greg Jacobs relaxed some of the bail conditions, he also imposed an additional one: that Rohde may not commit any further offence while on bail.

At yesterday’s hearing, Rohde was represented by advocate Ross McKernon and three attorneys, Daniel Witz, Tony Mostert and Noorudien Hassan.

The prosecution was represented by Carien Teunissen, a deputy director in the Western Cape Directorate for Public Prosecutions. Rohde said that his presence in Gauteng was essential, to enable him to attend to the needs of his three daughters, as well as his duties as the full-time head of Geffen International Franchises.

He said Geffen had sent an e-mail to the Sotheby network saying that he was on “extended leave”. Teunissen said she had an e-mail from the group stating that Rohde had been suspended on full pay. He returns to court on January 27. – ANA