Susan Rohde was ‘beaten, strangled’

Shocking post-mortem report

SUSAN Rohde was beaten in the face and on her body before she was strangled at the Spier Wine Estate in July.

There were also bruises on her body, indicating she had been beaten about a week before she died.

These are the shocking postmortem findings by Dr Akmal Khan, a State medical specialist who examined her body at the Paarl Forensic Pathology Laboratory on July 26.

Susan Rohde’s body was found in the bathroom of her hotel room in Stellenbosch on July 24, with the cord of a hair iron around her neck.

She had accompanied her husband, property mogul Jason Rohde, to a business conference at the estate.

He maintains his wife committed suicide, but the State alleges she was murdered.

According to the postmortem report seen by Weekend Argus, blood pooling and lividity indicated Susan Rohde died in a prone position, not an upright position of hanging.

The report says an incomplete ligature mark on her neck had no sign there had been vital reactions, and this indicated the cord was most likely placed around her neck after she died. The report also alleges that:

Scratches under Susan Rohde’s jaw, a variety of haemorrhages in her neck area and a thyroid cartilage fracture indicated “manual strangulation”.

Bruising injuries to her body and face, as well as fractures to her third, fourth and fifth right ribs suggested she had been beaten prior to her death.

Bruises to her upper legs also indicated that she had blunt injury trauma about a week before her death.

However, it has previously been reported that a second private post-mortem, conducted at the request of Rohde’s legal team, indicated Susan Rohde had committed suicide in the locked bathroom.

Rohde, who was chief executive of Geffen International Realty Franchises, part of Sotheby’s International Realty, is awaiting trial for his wife’s murder He is out on R1.1 million bail.

In September, police swooped on the Bantry Bay home of Sotheby’s Sea Point estate agent Jolene Alterskye, who is alleged to have had an affair with Rohde. They confiscated her computer, electronic storage devices and cellphone.

Alterskye was apparently present at the same company conference at Spier, attended by the Rohdes, who had been married for 23 years.

The couple are alleged to have had an argument on the night before she died.

Susan Rohde