You’re lying, prosecutor tells Rohde
STATE prosecutor Advocate Louis van Niekerk attempted to find cracks in murder-accused Jason Rohde’s testimony in the Cape Town High Court yesterday.
The former Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International chief executive stuck to his version of the events that unfolded in July 2016 at the Spier wine estate near Stellenbosch‚ where he claims his wife Susan committed suicide.
The couple were sharing a hotel room while attending the company’s annual conference.
The state claims that after a protracted physical altercation in the early hours of July 24‚ Rohde strangled Susan and tried to cover up his crime by faking her suicide.
Van Niekerk questioned him extensively about the technical details of how he found Susan’s body after he asked Spier handyman Desmond Daniels to open the bathroom door behind which Rohde claims Susan hanged herself.
In court, he showed pictures of different ways in which Susan could have hanged herself‚ how the cord was placed around her neck‚ and how tight it was.
Many of the accounts in Daniels’s version of events differed from Rohde’s version.
Daniels said Susan was naked‚ while Rohde maintains she was covered in a robe.
Daniels also stated that he saw Susan lying on the floor after he opened the door with a screwdriver and that the door opened easily until it was stopped by her body‚ her head facing the door.
But Rohde maintained that she was hanging behind the door, and that he opened it.
Daniels said the cord was loose around her neck‚ Rohde said it was tight.
At one point, Rohde preempted a question‚ which prompted Van Niekerk to accuse him of having rehearsed his version of events.
“I’m telling you that you’re thinking ahead because this is a lie‚” he said.
When Rohde insisted he was telling the truth‚ Van Niekerk reminded him of his infidelity and of how he had lied to Susan about having an affair.
“Huh‚ you’re telling the truth? Like you did all that time with Susan when you were having an affair‚” he said.
Rohde replied that “being an adulterer doesn’t mean you’re a murderer”.
The case continues.