Rohde in bid for bail following wife’s death
He is strong despite all the odds – lawyer
MURDER accused Jason Rohde is expected to make a formal bail application tomorrow as the State further investigates the circumstances surrounding his wife’s death.
Rohde made his first appearance in the Stellenbosch Magistrate’s Court on Thursday in connection with the death of his wife Susan.
The 47-year-old woman was found dead at the Spier Wine Estate in Stellenbosch on July 24, reportedly with the cord of a hair-straightening iron around her neck.
Rohde, also 47, is the chief executive of Sotheby’s International Realty South Africa.
Yesterday, Rohde’s lawyer Daniel Witz said the State was hoping to establish his client’s financial position, and analyse the DNA evidence as well as information on Susan’s cellphone and laptop.
“He (Rohde) is staying strong, despite all the odds. He is staying resolute. He is thinking of his daughters and the family are sending him their support,” Witz said.
He said Rohde’s three daughters were waiting for their father to return home.
“The defence will apply for Mr Rohde to be released on bail,” Witz said.
Rohde was in court again on Friday after the State asked for a postponement for further investigations into information that surfaced on Thursday.
It has emerged that a postmortem suggests that Susan was strangled and smothered, and after her death, injuries were inflicted on her neck.
Reports say the affidavit of investigating officer Detective-Sergeant Marlon Appollis, who attended a postmortem conducted by two pathologists, Kahn and Abrahams, at the Paarl mortuary, says he was informed that Kahn, with whom Abrahams concurred, was of the opinion that the mechanism of death was manual strangulation.
Appollis said the doctors indicated there was pathology consistent with smothering and asphyxia and that Kahn also noted that the features of the ligature imprint abrasion mark were consistent with post-mortem application to the neck.
They also believe Susan died around 5.40am that morning. While the State alleges that she was killed by manual strangulation, Rohde’s defence say Susan committed suicide by hanging herself after 7am.
Rohde has hired an investigation team including an independent pathologist and five lawyers to help him prove his case.
Magistrate Greg Jacobs postponed the matter until tomorrow, while Rohde remains in custody.
The defence have also taken issue with Rohde’s arrest in Joburg last Tuesday, saying he had been taken in by at least eight armed policemen, as well as two police officials from Stellenbosch. They say no arrest warrant was presented to Rohde.
His three minor daughters were at home at the time of his arrest but did not witness his arrest, as he had requested.