Suspended South African head of the property group Sotheby’s International Realty, Jason Rohde, who is accused of murdering his wife, Susan Rohde, is expected to appear in the Stellenbosch Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
Susan Rohde was found with the cord of a straightening iron around her neck in the bathroom of the hotel room she was staying in on July 24. Jason Rohde claimed at the time that he had tried to open the bathroom door and when he could not he called hotel staff to assist him.
They found his wife with the cord around her neck and were unable to revive her. Police believed it was a suicide, but it became a murder investigation after post mortem results indicated she had been strangled.
The couple had been staying at Spier for a company function, and its been widely reported that the two had an argument before the murder.
On 23 August, Jason Rohde was arrested in the early hours at his Bryanston house in Johannesburg in connection with his wife Susan’s murder.
A week later Jason Rohde was released on bail of R1.1 million when he appeared in the Stellenbosch District Court, before magistrate Greg Jacobs.
In terms of an agreement between Prosecutor Carien Teunissen and the defence team led by advocates Peter Mihalik and Ross McKernan, Jason Rhode had to pay R100,000 cash immediately, to secure his release from police custody, and furnish the court’s administration with a commercial bank guarantee for the remaining R1 million.
The bank guarantee has to be lodged with the administration by not later than Wednesday, September 14.
In terms of his bail conditions, Jason Rohde has to live with family in Melkbosstrand until his next court appearance, and may after that return to his Bryanston home to be with his three minor daughters.
He has to submit to the supervision of a probation officer, or prison official, whist living at Melkbosstrand, and report on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at the Melkbos police station.
Jason Rohde may not visit any international ports of entry or departure, without prior written approval of the investigating officer, or the prosecutor appointed to deal with the case.
Mihalik said the defence and State had also agreed that the alleged murder was not premeditated, which rendered the bail application a Schedule 5 one, in which it was only necessary for the defence to satisfy the court that Rohde’s release from custody was in the interests of justice.
– African News Agency (ANA)
