‘No signs of suicide on scene’
THERE were no indications at the scene suggesting Susan Rohde, the wife of former property mogul Jason Rohde, committed suicide.
Yesterday, investigating officer Marlon Appollis said he had searched room 221, and her cellphone and bags for suicide notes, but did not find any. Instead, in a black leather bag, he found a note about Jason’s extramarital affairs.
Appollis said he also inspected the bathroom for instruments Susan could’ve used to hang herself.
She died on July 24 last year. It was initially believed she had committed suicide and had hanged herself on the bathroom door at the Spier Wine Estate. However, police later opened a murder investigation and her husband was charged.
Appollis said: “From my experience people make entries in diaries, or leave messages. I was looking for something that would indicate suicide, but did not find anything.”
Judge Gayaat Sallie-Hlophe remarked that a suicide note would have obviously assisted in determining whether this was a suicide, but did not necessarily determine it was not a suicide. Appolis agreed.
He said he looked around in the bathroom and “found it strange that there were no chairs, tables – where this person, in an alleged suicide, could have stood on”.
“Investigations were also done on the edge of the bath to check for footprints, but no prints were lifted. On the edge of the window sill no footprints were lifted either,” he said.
Another “strange” observation Appollis made was that the back of the bathroom door hook where Susan was alleged to have hanged herself remained intact. “The hook couldn’t carry her weight.”
Appolis asked an engineer who confirmed the hook would not have been able to support her 51kg weight.
Appolis said Jason boarded a plane to Lanseria Airport, in Joburg, on the same day his wife’s body was found.
When he arrived at the scene he was told Jason was at Stellenbosch police station. He later learnt from Jason’s brother in-law Peter Nortonthat Jason was on a plane headed for Joburg. “I wanted to ask him to explain step by step what happened.”
Appollis said the investigation changed from inquest to a murder when forensic pathologist Dr Akmal Khan’s post-mortem report said Susan died due to manual strangulation.