Witnesses sing killer’s praises
Rohde awaits fate for murdering wife
Witnesses sympathetic to convicted wife killer Jason Rohde yesterday said much about how his children would suffer if the high court meted out a harsh sentence.
But the prosecution produced evidence that a policy held by his deceased wife had paid close to R1m into a trust set up for their three daughters’ upkeep. The property mogul and former CEO of Lew Geffen/Sotheby’s International Realty is pleading with the high court in Cape Town for a lenient sentence. Rohde has been convicted of murdering his wife, Susan, at Spier in Stellenbosch in 2016. He called his mother, Brenda Rohde, friend Craig Fleischer and lawyer Craig Livingstone to testify about his character. All three sang his praises and asked for a lesser sentence. But the most common thread in their testimony was that Rohde was the “sole provider” for his children. Brenda told the court Rohde’s twin daughters had enrolled at a university while his eldest daughter had dropped out of university because her father’s trial had taken a toll on her. She said the eldest daughter felt financially responsible towards her siblings and had found a waitressing job. Rohde’s counsel, Graham van der Spuy, asked Brenda whether she and her husband were “in a position to finance the girls through university”. “No,” Brenda said. “The mother-in-law (Susan’s mother) is said to be organising funds ... We had a round-table in January, they indicated that they are organising funds.”
But prosecutor Louis van Niekerk told Brenda: “The statement I will put to you is that the twins are well cared for in university.” Van Niekerk handed in a document indicating that Liberty Life had paid out R750,000 in a trust account of the children’s education. The matter was postponed to tomorrow for arguments.