Free to go home: Murder accused Jason Rohde out on R100‚000 bail

30 August 2016 - 18:55 By Aron Hyman

Multi-millionaire murder accused Jason Rohde‚ who is accused of murdering his wife‚ was released on R100‚000 bail on Tuesday. Father-of-three Rohde‚ who appeared in Stellenbosch Magistrate’s Court in connection with the death of his wife Susan at Spier wine estate in Stellenbosch on July 24‚ was also ordered to secure a R1-million guarantee by September 14. The businessman‚ CEO of Geffen International Realty Franchises‚ smiled with relief after bail was granted‚ embracing defence advocate Pete Mihalik and shaking hands with members of his investigating team. After indicating last week that new evidence could increase the seriousness of the charges against Rohde‚ prosecutor Carien Theunissen instead told the court that they would not change.Rohde was told he is free to travel between his Johannesburg home and his brother-in-law's house in the Western Cape.When he is in Cape Town‚ he is required to report to Melkbosstrand police station three times a week. In Johannesburg he has to report to Randburg police station twice daily.Susan Rohde’s body was found in the bathroom of the couple's hotel room with the cord of a hair-straightening iron around her neck.She had accompanied her husband of 23 years to a property convention at the estate.Police changed the cause of death from suicide to murder following a pathology report which determined that the mechanism of death was allegedly “manual strangulation”.Detectives arrested Rohde a month after her death at his home in Bryanston after receiving information about his assets in Australian accounts.Rohde’s five-man legal team fired their first salvo at the state and police last week for what they said was an “unlawful” arrest.Theunissen asked magistrate Greg Jacobs for additional time for police to collect outstanding evidence such as DNA analysis‚ data analysis from Rohde’s cellphone and laptop‚ and a blood splatter analysis.One of Rohde's lawyers‚ Tony Mostert‚ said outside court on Tuesday that an article that appeared in a Cape Town newspaper on Wednesday would change the way the defence dealt with the media from now on.TMG Digital/Cape Town Newsroom ..

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