Western Cape High Court on Thursday, found real estate morgul, Jason Rohde, guilty of murdering his wife Susan in a South African hotel in July 2016.
Jason Rohde was also found guilty of obstruction of justice.
The Judge, Gayaat Salie-Hlophe who delivered the conviction having read out a 38 page summary said "The State has proven its case beyond reasonable doubt," adding that "This court finds that the accused staged the suicide and had the direct intention to kill."
It was gathered that the convict murdered his wife in one of the arguements which broke out after the discovery of Rohde's extra-marital affairs.
The judge averred that based on expert evidence, she found it "highly improbable" that Susan would have gone to the bathroom to hang herself.
Throughout the trial, Rohde had claimed that Susan had committed suicide.
Of Rohde’s testimony, she said, “it was fraught with inconsistencies and he was economical with the truth.”
She said that “Susan’s Ill-fated discovery” of an affair had been followed by “months of trauma.”
She concluded that Rohde murdered Susan in the bedroom and then dragged her across the carpet and simulated the suicide in the bathroom - then furnishing it with carefully planned alibis.
He had been “ducking and diving the truth” just as he done with such aplomb in his extra-marital affair, she said.
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