The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has granted Jason Rohde another opportunity for leave to appeal after his previous request for bail was rejected by the Western Cape High Court. Rohde was found guilty of the murder of his wife Susan, after he killed her during a business conference hosted at the famed Spier Wine Estate in Stellenbosch three years ago.
Judge Gayaat Sali-Hlope rejected Rohde’s bail application last month, as he requested it in the hopes of sorting his business affairs out. According to Rohde, he needed to be released to deal with a hostile takeover’ of his company, and ensure his daughters are financially sound before serving out his prison sentence.
As reported by News24, Salie-Hlope said: “Releasing Mr Rohde, who was convicted of the savage murder of his wife, on the basis essentially that he had been granted leave to appeal and that his release would allow him to manage his wealth and other needs and comforts, would threaten law and order”.
Salie-Hlophe found Rohde guilty of the murder of his wife Susan and staging her suicide at the Spier Hotel. This judgment was made last November.
Rohde is serving 20 years in prison for the murder of Susan, as well as staging her suicide. It was first believed that Susan finally succumbed after a long battle with depression, but a closer examination of her marriage to Rohde determined that she had not committed suicide as he would have had the court believe. The prosecution claimed that Susan had taken her own life when she discovered that her husband was having an affair, and although Rohde claimed this was one of the reasons Susan took her own life, he maintained his innocence.
Rohde also claimed that he had asked Susan for a divorce the evening before her death.
“My conduct ripped my family apart. It has devastated my family and I know, if it wasn’t for my disgusting behaviour, Susan would still be alive today,” Rohde was reported to have said in his defence.
He, however, outed himself when his statement on how he discovered his wife hanging behind the bathroom door by the cord of her curling iron became contradictory.
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