South Africa - Susan Rohde, 47, murdered, Stellenbosch, 24 July 2016

“It’s all really tragic, says one of Susan’s friends. “I saw her a few days before she died and she was looking so thin. She really looked stressed. I don’t think it was a happy situation. Neighbours heard fighting all the time”.

The last time they were seen together was at Sotheby’s annual conference held at Spier – where they were reportedly overheard having a blazing argument about an affair that Jason had allegedly been having with an attractive estate agent, Jolene Alterskye.

[URL]https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/you-south-africa/20160915/281668254422242[/URL]

Jason Rohde had two scratch marks on his back days after Susan’s death. This information is contained in a medical report which forms part of the charge sheet.

According to the medical report, he was taken by detectives from the Stellenbosch Serious Crimes Unit to Victoria Hospital in Wynberg four days after his wife's death, where he was examined by Dr Marianne Tiemensma of the clinical forensic unit.

[Yet another excellent witness from the van Breda trial. Her name doesn’t appear in the short witness list of 17 names posted earlier but perhaps is included in the complete list of 79.]

Tiemensma had noticed two superficial scratch marks or linear scratches on Rohde’s back. The top one was about 20mm long and 1mm wide. The one just below it was about 30mm long and about 1mm wide. There was no indication that the scratches had started healing yet.

She also noted that he had a “fresh” cut to the middle finger of his left hand. According to the medical report, Rohde said he’d cut himself with a glass vase.

According to Tiemensma’s the medical report, he appeared concerned and anxious but he co-operated.

In a sworn statement submitted to the Stellenbosch Magistrate’s Court a month after his wife’s death, he doesn’t mention the scratch marks at all. However he does refer to the small cut on his finger and says he sustained it on July 26, 2016 in the presence of his children.

[URL]http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/scratch-marks-found-on-rohdes-back-after-wifes-death-20170627[/URL]

The Rohde's have 3 beautiful daughters. At the time of Susan's death the eldest was 18 and the twins were 16.

Susan with her daughter Kate.



[URL]http://www.news24.com/You/Archive/we-miss-you-already-daughter-of-spier-murder-victim-posts-heartrending-video-tribute-20170728[/URL]

The Rohde family home



http://cdn.24.co.za/files/Cms/General/d/5820/a95b89b529c947a19f23d03fe6cea3a7.jpg

Imagine moving from this home to a prison cell for 25 years. Karma.

Thank you for compiling here all that has been reported so far. I'm still reading through it. Much to absorb.

I read somewhere else that the handyman called to open the locked bathroom door commented that JR appeared freshly dressed and shaven at that time!

Less than 6 months after Susan's death, another near tragedy occurred.

A reliable source told Netwerk24 that Kate was hospitalized after an apparent drug overdose.

Kate (18) had just finished matric before going on holiday. She attended a school in Johannesburg.



http://www.news24.com/You/Archive/j...talized-after-apparent-drug-overdose-20170728

Thanks, JJ, for up-to-dates on this case. Should be interesting; a couple of familiar witnesses there!

Thanks JJ. You have been busy.

The accused, Jason Rohde pleads not guilty

http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/f90379...definedbackundefinedinundefinedcourt-20171010



Susan Rohde

https://www.netwerk24.com/ZA/Eikestadnuus/Nuus/vrou-dood-by-spier-gevind-20160805

It appears Susan put up a big fight for her life where she sustained horrible injuries before she was strangled. This seems a cut and dry case but lets see how this defence handles the damning forensic evidence in comparison to Botha's pathetic and roundabout tactics.
It's worrying that the autopsy reports show different causes of death, how can this happen?

Jason Rohde's advocate, Pete Mihalik - practising junior counsel for 21 years.



http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/delay-expected-in-murder-accused-jason-rohdes-trial-20170922


State Prosecutor Louis van Niekerk Biographical Info -

A Senior State Advocate in the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) of South Africa
since 1 June 2002, and a member of the Directorate of Special Operations (DSO or
Scorpions) from 2002 until its disbandment in 2009. This was a multidisciplinary
agency within the NPA that investigated and prosecuted organised crime and
corruption. Adv. van Niekerk is doing part time a PhD on the prosecution of complex
and transnational corruption based on the complementary model in Africa.

http://www.iap-association.org/geta...ical-note-Advocate-Louis-van-Niekerk.pdf.aspx

https://za.linkedin.com/in/louisjvanniekerk

https://twitter.com/AJGMolyneaux



Oct 9 - We are going to the hotel room where Jason Rohde’s wife Susan was found dead at Spier wine farm.

Jason Rohde and his defense team walk to the room where his wife Susan was found dead. The state is accusing #Rohde of murder.

Oct 10 - Good day all. I’m in the Jason Rohde murder trial. Mark Thompson is on stand. He worked for Sothebys and knew Jason for 7 years.

Thompson says Jason told the policeman that Susan & him had been arguing before she locked herself in bathroom. He then fell asleep.

T: Jason told his father-in-law that Susan was running & she tripped. J then later changed it to ‘slipped’.

The door which Susan #Rohde was found hanging from. It stands in CT High Court while the murder trial against Jason Rohde unfolds.




“Help me Mark, Help me Mark!”This is what Mark Thompson says Jason #Rohde repeated after finding his wife Susan dead in the bathroom.


Jason #Rohde takes notes during his murder trial. Very focused. He is also wearing pink & turquoise socks.

https://twitter.com/AJGMolyneaux

Oct 12 - Welcome to day 4 of the Jason Rohde murder trial. ⚖️ Today we will be hearing from the state’s DNA expert: Dr. Khan.


State advocate Louis van Niekerk is Running through an impressive CV of witness Dr.Khan.

Dr. khan says he has done more than 2900 post-Morten examinations.

Dr. Khan has worked on 19 cases of strangulation homicide before this trial.

Dr K arrived on scene where Susan #Rohde was deceased. He was called to determine whether Susan was killed or committed suicide.

Dr K: I was told that Jason and Susan had a fight on night of her murder. Jason said she locked herself in bathroom & hung herself.

Dr K: I was told CPR was done but later declared dead by paramedics on scene.

We are about to look at the crime scene photos - lights are being switched off in court. No photos or videos allowed.

1st & 2nd photo: Taken from outside: hotel room 221 has police crime scene tape preventing access into the room.

Looking at graphic photos now. Not allowed to report on this.

Dr Khan takes us through his evaluation of what he saw & found: Susan naked underneath gown. Lying on her back. Big bruise on R thigh.

Dr K: blood present on R foot, makeup still on Susan’s face.

Dr K: Ligature imprint mark on neck. Front and side of neck. Straight line.

[The person controlling power point presentation is a bit clueless how power point works. ]

Dr K: Linear scratch marks to Susan’s R lower jaw. I’d interpret that as possible fingernail scratch marks.

Dr K: more scratch marks just above the ligature mark on the front of neck (my note: possible fingernail scratching to get cord off??)

Dr K: Bruising to R eye caused by possibly blunt force trauma. Abrasion on bruise could be cause of a punch with a ring on the fist.

Dr K: that is unusual in a suicide case to find blunt force trauma on victim i.e the eye injury.

Dr K continues. Bruising to left knee & lower leg. Also big greenish bruise to R upper leg & thigh. Healing bruise - occurred days before.

Dr K:This worries me as now we have injuries of different ages present on body-possible battered woman syndrome present.(speculating)

Dr K: I could not locate any injuries to genitalia at that time.

https://twitter.com/AJGMolyneaux

Dr K: There was bruising of the knuckles as well as abrasion on knuckles of Susan’s L hand. Bruise to wrist.

Dr K: Susan weighed 52 kgs. The window was closed at the time he was in the bathroom.

Dr K: In hanging cases, there is a specific pattern as the death occurs in an upright vertical position. Feet have a certain lividity.

NB: DrK: We found lividity on Susan’s back leading to my conclusion that Susan died on her back & not in an upright hanging position.

Dr Keath occurred around 05:40. Possible blood staining on floor, L bed & pillow. If this was suicide why would there be blood in room?

Dr K: Dealing with locked door - possible to put something in that slot and turn it from the outside to unlock door.

Dr Coetzee-Khan says after his investigation he wasn’t happy to declare this a suicide & therefore asked crime scene unit to take over.

Dr K: I also wanted the door hooks to be assessed to see if they could support the weight for a hanging to take place.

Dr K summarizes that because of all the reasons given, he believes this death should be investigated as a homicide.

We have moved into the post-morten report: DrK says ligature on neck is not consistent with hanging as it is not angled upwards towards the point of hanging above. This ligature is horizontal and straight.

Dr. Coetzee-Khan the state pathology expert who investigated the crime scene&the post-mortem: “This was a staging of a hanging.”

Jason #Rohde is accused of murdering his wife Susan by strangulation. The murder trial is taking place in the CT high court. Property mogul Jason #Rohde says he found his wife hanging from a door hook in their hotel room. The state says he murderer her.

Suicide or hanging? Here’s a short piece on this mornings state forensic pathology testimony in the #rohde trial:
https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/so...-pathologist-susan-rohdes-suicide-was-staged/

State forensic pathologist says Jason Rohde staged his wife’s suicide. Here’s a wrap video & article:
https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/so...up-woman-pathologists-verdict-on-susan-rohde/

We are back in court running through findings of Dr Coetzee-Khan’s post-mortem of Susan #Rohde in the murder trial of #JasonRohde



Dr K: Blood found in small intestines of Susan meaning she would have been injured,swallowing blood up and until an hour before death.

Dr K: “In summary, the cause of death is unnatural. Manual strangulation & external airway obstruction. Post-mortem injury to neck.”

Defense pathologist Dr Perumal finds cause of death to be ‘ligature strangulation’ after his post-mortem of Susan #Rohde



Dr Coetzee-Khan is going through Dr Reggie Perumal’s post-mortem report of Susan

Dr K burns defense pathologist Dr Perumal’s report which says Susan’s hyoid bone not broken:“He is deliberately misleading court”

Mark Thompson, the State’s first witness said, "I was crying and my tears were splashing on her naked breasts." He testified about how he tried to resuscitate the naked corpse of Rohde's wife, Susan, in a bathroom at Spier wine estate.

The former Anglican priest, who said he had worked with Rohde for seven years, testified he was disturbed by a large bruise on her upper thigh near her pubic area.

He described his desperate attempts to resuscitate Susan for nearly 40 minutes while Rohde sat next to him, pleading in a "mantra-like" fashion.

When he got to the room he saw Rohde sitting on the bathroom floor next to Susan's body. He said that Susan was lying on the floor with her head pointing away from the door, where a "hair tool's" electrical cable was hanging over a towel hook mounted on the door. He noticed a knot in the cable which would have been too small for her head to fit through.

There was also "a small stool" lying next to her hip and a pool of urine. "I had read many times that when a person dies they release their bowels and urinate. "If she hanged herself on the back of the door I would have thought her stool and urine would be at the door," he said.

Thompson explained that 15 months had passed since he witnessed the incident and he recalled details which traumatised him or found peculiar. He said he found Rohde's verbal behaviour strange. "In terms of Rohde's reaction, he never said: 'Susan, why did you do this? Susan, I love you, what about our girls?'" said Thompson.

[URL]https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2017-10-11-rohdes-words-odd-witness/[/URL]

Assuming for a moment that Susan had hung herself, how is it possible that the knot in the cable was too small for her head to fit through. If JR removed the noose, surely the opening would have been very much larger, not smaller.

Tears from the man who worked so hard for 40 minutes to resuscitate Susan, but from the husband ... nothing.

RSBM

PrimeSuspect said:

State Prosecutor Louis van Niekerk Biographical Info -

A Senior State Advocate in the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) of South Africa
since 1 June 2002, and a member of the Directorate of Special Operations (DSO or
Scorpions) from 2002 until its disbandment in 2009. This was a multidisciplinary
agency within the NPA that investigated and prosecuted organised crime and
corruption. Adv. van Niekerk is doing part time a PhD on the prosecution of complex
and transnational corruption based on the complementary model in Africa.

http://www.iap-association.org/geta...ical-note-Advocate-Louis-van-Niekerk.pdf.aspx

https://za.linkedin.com/in/louisjvanniekerk

Click to expand...

So that means van Niekerk probably worked with Gerrie Nel in the Scorpions. Interesting that both of them are fighting corruption. I liked the sound of him, both professionally and on a personal level, based on the summary of his LinkedIn profile.

Is there a discussion thread about Susan other than this trial one. I've been looking so that I can read up on it. I just can't find it if there is one.

bleuboy said:

Is there a discussion thread about Susan other than this trial one. I've been looking so that I can read up on it. I just can't find it if there is one.

Click to expand...

Threads can be opened in the name of the victim, the accused or something entirely different. The thread will continue under that name until the conclusion of the trial.

Everything we know about Susan is on this thread. Unfortunately there's very little at all on the internet about her, but anything we subsequently learn will be posted here.

Here’s a little more background.

Jason Rohde was born in the UK, was a South African citizen and his passports for both these countries had expired. He also had an Australian passport from a brief period of emigration, which was valid until 2017.

Rohde said Susan had an insurance policy which specifically disqualified suicide as grounds for a claim.

He listed his income and expenses as a house in Bryanston worth R9.4m which he and Susan were planning to sell because their oldest daughter would be matriculating soon (2016), and a holiday home worth R2.2m. He owed R1m on his BMW and R450,000 on Susan’s Mercedes.

Apparently he also has some offshore assets.

They had been married for 23 years and had 3 daughters, one aged 18 and 16-year-old twins.

[url]https://www.ecr.co.za/news/news/susan-rohde-appears-have-been-strangled-court-hears/[/URL]


As of 8 August 2016 nothing else was known about the couple. All Rohde’s social media accounts have been deleted.

Susan’s death occurred early in the morning when there were no staff around.

[url]http://www.2oceansvibe.com/2016/08/08/youve-heard-about-the-spier-wine-estate-murder-suicide-mystery-right/[/URL]

Here you go blueboy.

A former teacher, Susan had a passion for interior decorating, says Deborah van Dongen, director of the charity organisation Hearts of Hope where Susan had often helped out.

“At a birthday event she would help to paint. She loved decorating and when we were configuring rooms she helped us lay everything out. She was very good at the creative side of things,” Deborah says.

Susan was always thorough and very reliable, she adds. “We miss her desperately. She leaves an incredible legacy.”

"Nothing ever goes away until it teaches us what we need to know,” declares a quote on a blackboard above a fireplace in one of the rooms in the Bryanston house. Was it Susan who wrote this? If so, what was she referring to?

This link also contains numerous pics of the home.

[URL]http://www.news24.com/You/Archive/inside-susan-and-jason-rohdes-picture-perfect-r10-million-home-20170728[/URL]