ROHDE: CELLPHONE RECORDS REVEAL LOVE TRIANGLE
Wife, husband and mistress in heated exchanges
SALACIOUS details of Jason Rohde’s alleged affair and his torrid relationship with his wife Susan were laid bare in a series of WhatsApp and iMessages between the love triangle.
This was revealed in the Western Cape High Court by cellphone record analyst AnnaMarie van Niekerk as she read out WhatsApp and iMessages sent between the couple, as well as messages sent to Rohde’s mistress, Jolene Alterskye, by both Rohde and his deceased wife.
Susan died on July 24 last year. It was initially believed that she had committed suicide and had hanged herself on the bathroom door at the Spier Wine Estate, but Rohde was subsequently arrested and is currently appearing in the Western High Court for her murder.
In her testimony, Van Niekerk highlighted communication made the day before Susan’s death and even on that fateful morning.
A conversation extracted from Rohde’s phone showed that he had sent Alterskye messages expressing frustration because he could not be with her.
At 10.02am he wrote: “This weekend made me realise just how much I don’t want to be with Sue anymore. All I can think of is you. I want to scream with frustration. I don’t want anything more in my life than to be with you.”
Close to an hour later, he said: “Having you close is driving me crazy. Sue is driving me nuts! She follows me around like a f*** shadow.”
Alterskye replied to one of the messages saying: “You my penguin forever.”
Rohde wrote: “I absolutely hate it, I just want it to end.”
Meanwhile, that same morning, Rohde and his wife were exchanging slurs in a conversation via text messages.
At 11.08am on July 23, 2016, Susan wrote to Rohde: “Or are you checking how much time you have.”
He replied: “Oh for f*** sakes I’m sitting in a conference with 150 people watching me!”
About 20 minutes later she wrote in another text: “You are a devious f** bastard.” Susan later orders her husband to remove “her” number on his cellphone and to reveal blocked contacts.
Rohde replied: “Because if I call her it will come up on seri your idiot! Now leave, I have had enough. On my work day you are doing this to me. I want you gone now and I don’t care about the consequences.”
In the string of messages Susan says she expected a divorce from him.
She wrote: “And I know you are going to divorce me so I am doing what I want now.”
“You are going to die today and so is she,” Susan wrote to her husband.
According to Van Niekerk, on the morning of Susan’s murder, Alterskye and Susan also exchanged words.
At 05.50am Alterskye wrote to Susan: “Go wash your mouth.” To which Susan replied with an equally angry message.
Van Niekerk said, according to the cellphone records, Rohde and Alterskye called each other regularly.
In March 2016, Alterskye called Rohde 544 times, while in April he called her 222 times.