Rohde daughter’s change of heart

CONVICTED murderer Jason Rohde’s eldest daughter, Katie, who was to testify in mitigation of sentence at the High Court in Cape Town yesterday, changed her mind just minutes after she took to the witness stand.

Katie had just been sworn in when defence advocate Graham van der Spuy asked to address the court and told the Western Cape High Court Judge Gayaat Salie-Hlophe that the witness no longer wished to testify.

This followed Judge Salie-Hlophe’s ruling that the media could remain in court and that only audio of Katie’s testimony could be broadcast.

According to Van der Spuy, the 20-year-old had agreed to testify only without broadcast as she was under a lot of “unfair pressure”.

Rohde was convicted by Judge Salie-Hlophe on November 8 of the 2016 murder of his wife, Susan.

He will remain in custody until his next appearance on February 18, after the judge turned down Van der Spuy’s application for bail reinstatement. The defence said it would call two friends and former colleagues of Rohde to give evidence in mitigation of sentence at his next court appearance. |