Evidence wife’s body was moved

FAECES found in at least three different areas at Spier Wine Estate’s room 221 may suggest that Susan Rohde was murdered and then dragged to the bathroom, where her alleged hanging was staged.

This is what the State put to murder accused, businessman Jason Rohde’s defence expert, forensic pathologist Dr Reggie Perumal, at the trial in the Western Cape High Court.

Perumal said one of the changes the body made in death was sphincter incontinence, when the body involuntarily released secretion as further indication of asphyxia – the deprivation of oxygen to the brain.

Yesterday, the court heard that faeces was found on the tiles at the entrance of room 221, on the floor at the entry of the bathroom as well as on the floor where her body was lying when police arrived.

Jason’s version is that his wife Susan committed suicide by hanging herself with an electric cord hooked on the bathroom door on July 24, 2016.

He said she was wearing a gown at the time. However, the State’s key witness and hotel maintenance man, Desmond Daniels, said she was stark naked.

There was no faeces on the gown or at the back of the bathroom door, but faecal soiling was present in her buttocks.

Perumal said that the gown should have been soiled, depending on the amount of secretion there was.

He said its presence in other areas in the room could be due to someone stepping on it and transferring it.

“The only explanation is contamination. Someone in the bathroom had stepped on stool and then walked out with it. I can’t find any other explanation for it,” said Perumal.