Jason Rohde’s former girlfriend to make representations over judge, cop comments

The former girlfriend of convicted wife killer Jason Rohde is expected to argue why she should not be prosecuted for comments she made about the judge who sentenced him and the detectives who investigated him.

This emerged when Jolene Alterskye appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on charges of crimen injuria on Monday morning.

Dressed in a tailored black jacket, black jeans and boots, Alterskye heard that the matter would be postponed to March for her legal team to make representations to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Her lawyer, William Booth, indicated that he had been in touch with Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions in the Western Cape, Billy Downer.

The defence had received an evidence bundle late on Thursday and would lodge their argument by the next court appearance.

Alterskye made comments on social media and in a text message after Rohde’s conviction and sentencing in February last year after Western Cape High Court Judge Gayaat Salie-Hlophe sentenced Rohde.

He was sentenced to 18 years for the murder of his wife, Susan, and five for defeating the ends of justice by staging her suicide, three of which were ordered to run concurrently.

He is out on bail pending the appeal of his sentence.

Last year, Alterskye apologised to Judge Salie-Hlophe and prosecutor Louis van Niekerk after a text message she had sent was widely distributed.

The Weekend Argus reported at the time that the message read: “I am [appalled at] this so-called justice system, the whole case was an attempt by the State to create a crime which never happened so they can lock up a ‘high-profile white man’ to try [to] show the country that they [are] doing their job. As far as I am concerned, the State and the judge are the same team and if the State acted unlawfully in illegally searching properties and bribing State witnesses, what else did they fabricate in order to get their Xmas bonus? A corrupt country starts with corrupt police, and I do hope the truth [will] be revealed and actual justice served.”

She retracted her comments in a letter delivered to the judge and prosecutor.

In it, she said she was under “intense media and public scrutiny” and said her behaviour was “unacceptable”.

Prior to this, Alterskye commented on a Facebook post by the SA Police Service in which it hailed the work of detective sergeants Marlon Appollis and Stephen Adams.

She commented: “These two ‘officers’ did nothing but lie, and acted unlawfully, raiding my home and intimidating my child without a legal search warrant. After months of broken promises, I received my ‘illegally’ confiscated goods through whiskey pay-offs, as that is the only language they understand. These are not people we should respect nor promote so hopefully they do not get a higher rank. I do hope these detectives are not the norm and that there are good cops out there.”

She later deleted the comment.

Rohde’s former colleague, Brendan Miller, testified during his trial that Appollis had asked for a drink after arriving at his home to take a statement one morning.

Van Niekerk had spoken to him and he said he had seen the whisky and asked if he could have a sip, News24 previously reported.

He said Appollis recalled that he had the whisky after taking the statement when they were standing and smoking on Miller’s balcony at around midday.

Booth previously confirmed that Judge Salie-Hlophe, Adams and Appollis were the complainants in the case against his client.

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