Rohde lawyers call for urgent talks with judge president

Lawyers for property mogul Jason Rohde said on Friday they want an urgent meeting with Cape Judge President John Hlophe.

Dressed in a dark suit‚ white shirt and tie‚ Rohde appeared in the high court in Cape Town for the first time. He is charged with murdering his wife‚ Susan‚ and obstructing the administration of justice by making her death look like a suicide.

The prosecution and defence told the court it was imperative that a trial judge be appointed as soon as possible because there were issues in the case that only the presiding judge could deal with.

Rohde’s pretrial hearing was adjourned until September 22. His trial is scheduled to start on October 9.

The former Lew Geffen/Sotheby’s International Realty CEO was staying with Susan at Spier wine estate‚ near Stellenbosch‚ in July 2016 when she was found with the cord of a hair iron around her neck behind a locked bathroom door in the couple’s room.

The indictment against Rohde‚ handed in by the state last month at Stellenbosch Magistrate’s Court‚ accuses Rohde of placing the cord around Susan’s neck “in a double strand around the clothing/towel hook at the back of the bathroom door”.

He then supplied false information to police‚ it says.

“The post-mortem examination conducted on the body of the deceased shows the cause of death as being consistent with asphyxia following manual strangulation and external airway obstruction. The features of the ligature imprint abrasion mark are consistent with post-mortem application to the neck.

“The accused is responsible for the death of his wife.”

Rohde’s attorney‚ Daniel Witz‚ said in July they would fight the case based on forensic evidence‚ adding that prosecution allegations of an argument over an affair between Rohde and Cape Town estate agent Jolene Alterskye were circumstantial.

“Our view is that the most important aspect of this case is the forensic evidence‚ and unless the state can overcome the forensic evidence then all the surrounding circumstances are not as relevant as the state currently think they are‚” he said.