INFOGRAPHIC: What happened, according to murder accused Jason Rohde
Law firm Miller Bosman Le Roux Attorneys have released a handy infographic detailing what happened on the night of the murder, according to the accused.
Jason Rohde appears in the Western Cape High Court for the murder of his wife, 5 June 2018. Picture: Ayanda Ndamane/ANA
Jason Rohde is accused of strangling his wife, Susan Rohde, and staging her suicide. She was found hanged with an electrical cord from a hook behind the bathroom door of the hotel room they shared.
The defence has argued that Susan hanged herself after a fight over Rohde’s mistress, Jolene Alterskye, who was also at the hotel on the night of Susan’s death.
The infographic is helpful in understanding Jason Rohde’s version of events. He has argued he drove his wife to suicide through his infidelity, and has consistently denied killing her.
On Wednesday, Rohde’s defence introduced the testimony of forensic expert Reggie Perumal, who disputed the findings of state pathologist Dr Akmal Coetzee-Khan that Susan died as a result of a lack of oxygen after manual strangulation and smothering.
Perumal, who conducted a second autopsy at the behest of Rohde, testified that a number of points from the first autopsy, which was conducted by the state, were inaccurate, and also pointed out there were errors in the calculations made at the crime scene to determine the time of death.
READ MORE: Forensic expert picks holes in Susan Rohde’s autopsy report
Rohde’s defence finding fault in the state’s postmortem report follows the state prosecutor saying the results showed no signs of the wife committing suicide.
State prosecutor Louis van Niekerk on Monday told the Western Cape High Court that Rohde’s version of testimony was not true when he had claimed the knot was tight around Susan’s neck.
READ MORE: Postmortem results show no signs of Susan Rohde suicide, court hears
Van Niekerk told the court that Desmond Daniels, the hotel’s handyman, who was called by Jason Rohde to unlock the bathroom door, had testified there was no struggle removing the noose from Susan’s neck.
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