Rohde hires top team, including Oscar's pathologist

26 August 2016 - 08:29 By ARON HYMAN

The private pathologist hand-picked by Oscar Pistorius's defence team to bolster his case has been contracted by Jason Rohde, who is accused of his wife's murder.The 47-year-old multi-millionaire appeared in the Stellenbosch Magistrate's Court yesterday with a team in his corner - including five lawyers, a team of private investigators and Reggie Perumal, who conducted a second autopsy on the body of Susan Rohde.Advocate Pete Mihalik read out an extensive affidavit by his client - the CEO of Geffen International Realty Franchise - detailing the events after Susan Rohde's body was found at Spier wine estate in Stellenbosch on July 24. Initially it was reported that Susan had committed suicide but after the state's postmortem a murder docket was opened.Rohde's affidavit said he co-operated with police in the days leading to his arrest at his Johannesburg home on Tuesday.But at the same time he had his own sleuths, including former top cop JD Kotze - who led the Station Strangler case - conducting a parallel probe.In the affidavit he revealed that, at one stage, while his legal team was with police investigators, he was at "Spier with my privately appointed investigation team". The couple were attending a work function at Spier when Susan was found dead.Rohde said their room and bathroom were still demarcated as a crime scene during his later visit and his team were denied access.They took photographs and videos and found another room identical to theirs."I do pause to point out that my private investigator noted that the bathroom window of the crime scene was, in fact, left wide open and anybody could gain access to the room," he said. "This clearly shows sloppy and inept police work as the integrity of the crime scene is clearly compromised. It's been like this for weeks."He also rubbished the state's autopsy results, claiming Perumal's provisional report concluded that Susan took her own life.Perumal is a well-known pathologist based in Durban and was appointed to assist with Pistorius's private investigation.Mihalik argued that Rohde's arrest was unlawful and that he should be released on bail.Prosecutor Carien Theunissen said there was outstanding forensic evidence which could change the severity of the charges."There is limited capacity at the forensic laboratory."The DNA evidence is outstanding ... I am satisfied that there is enough evidence for an arrest to have been made," Theunissen said.The case continues today...

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