Handyman’s evidence doesn’t match up with Rohde’s

Rohde has given details about how his wife’s body was found in the bathroom of their hotel suite that differ with the account of handyman Desmond Daniels.

During his testimony at the Western Cape High Court on Monday, Rohde claimed his spouse, Susan, was found wearing a robe. Daniels, who discovered her while working at the Spier wine farm, says she was naked when they found her.

While Rohde disagrees, he concedes there wasn’t anything to obscure Daniels’ view of a nightgown.

The two men also differ on the exact position the woman was found in.

READ MORE: I’m ‘wholly responsible’ for my wife’s death – Rohde 

Rohde says she was crouching forward with a hair iron cord around her neck, as it was suspended from the back of a hook behind the bathroom door.

Daniels says the mother of three was found lying naked on the floor with the cord placed loosely around her neck.

Rohde was arrested after Susan’s body was found hanging by the neck by an electrical cord from a hook behind the bathroom door of the hotel room they shared at the Spier Wine Estate in 2016.

Rohde claims that Susan hanged herself after a fight when she learned he was still having an affair with property industry colleague Jolene Alterskye.

However, the state alleges Rohde strangled his wife and tried to make it look like a suicide.

During his testimony, Rohde told the court his wife was “furious” on the night of her death after she caught him with Alterskye. He had been convincing Susan he had stopped seeing her. Susan learned of the affair in February, but believed Jason had ended it.

Rohde said he woke up later to find the bathroom door locked from the inside.

He contacted hotel reception, and a handyman, Desmond Daniels, was sent out and unlocked the bathroom door, behind which was found the body of Susan Rohde.