Witness tells of effort to revive Rohde’s wife
A WITNESS in the trial of millionaire murder accused Jason Rohde testified yesterday how his “tears were splashing on her naked breasts” as he tried to resuscitate Rohde’s wife, Susan.
Mark Thompson‚ the first state witness in Rohde’s trial, told the Cape Town High Court that he had tried to resuscitate Susan in a bathroom at Spier wine estate in Stellenbosch.
The former Anglican priest‚ who had worked with Rohde for seven years‚ said he was disturbed by Susan’s nakedness and a large bruise on her upper thigh near her pubic area.
He described his desperate attempts to resuscitate Susan that lasted for nearly 40 minutes while Rohde sat next to him‚ pleading in a mantra-like fashion: “Mark‚ help me.”
Thompson was a manager in the Lew Geffen/ Sotheby’s Johannesburg office after Rohde‚ the chief executive, offered him a position.
He also attended the Lew Geffen/Sotheby’s International Realty annual conference at Spier where police allege Rohde murdered his wife and staged her suicide.
He said a colleague told him at about 8.30am on July 24 last year, that there had been an incident in one of the hotel rooms and that someone was believed to have committed suicide.
When he got to the room‚ he saw Rohde sitting on the bathroom floor next to Susan’s body.
He said she was lying with her head pointing away from the door where a “hair tool’s” electrical cable was hanging over a towel hook mounted on the back of the door.
He noticed a knot in the cable which would have been too small for her head to fit through‚ he said.
He also said he found Rohde’s verbal behaviour strange. “In terms of Mr Rohde’s reaction‚ he never said‚ ‘Susan why did you do this‚ Susan I love you‚ what about our girls’‚” Thompson said.
The trial continues.