GUILTY South Africa - Susan Rohde, 47, murdered, Stellenbosch, 24 July 2016 - #2

[Tortoise]

Adminsters deceased's estate.

 

[Tortoise]

LVN refers to Susan's will. Anderson: "The will states that the heir to the estate is Mr Jason Rohde and should he [die], it goes into the trust for three daughters until they are of the age 21." Bryanston property was main asset.
Jenna Etheridge (@JennaEtheridge) | Twitter

 

[Tortoise]

Amount in estate as at 1st Feb 2018 was 4,25 million rand.

He was approached to make money available for defence.

 

[Tortoise]

Did they sell the house then?

 

[Tortoise]

1,7 million rand paid to Jason's bank (I think)

 

[tmar]

#Rohde Anderson: The surplus of Susan's estate on 1 February 2018, excluding items of jewellery, was R4.25m. I was approached by Rohde's legal team to make money available for defence. @TeamNews24

2:51 AM - 5 Dec 2018

 

[tmar]

#Rohde Anderson says R168 000 was paid over to defence lawyer's trust account. Money was available for daughters' education and maintenance. When Jason asked for money for school, he would let Diane Holmes know. She never rejected these claims. @TeamNews24
#Rohde LVN refers to confirmation from Stellenbosch University that Rohde's twins have been provisionally accepted for studies in 2019. "He [Jason] asked me to pay immediately. He wanted to make sure it was in place for the girls next year." @TeamNews24
#Rohde Anderson confirms he also paid over money for a property and studies for Jason's eldest daughter next year. @TeamNews24

#Rohde Anderson: Advances for Jason amounts to around R2.9m. About R80 000 left regarding estate. @TeamNews24

 

[Tortoise]

I wonder if they are getting at him spending Susan's money on his defence and leaving the daughter's short for their maintenance and education going into the future.

 

[tmar]

#Rohde On Susan's Liberty Life policy, Anderson says: They have stated beneficiary of policy is Jason Rohde. They want circumstances of the death. I have gone back to them with a copy of the judgment. LVN has no further questions.

#Rohde Defence starts with cross-exam. Lawyer Graham van der Spuy: "The policy was taken out at a time shorter than two years before her death." Anderson agrees and says there is a suicide exclusion clause. @TeamNews24

#Rohde Judge Gayaat Salie-Hlophe reminds defence that questions must be around mitigation of sentence. She reminds she has convicted Jason. VDS asks if he can address her on this. "No you can't," she says. @TeamNews24

 

[tmar]

Wow.
The Judge really had a go at GVS.
GVS continued to argue.
The Judge and GVS are arguing.
The Judge states "You can't speak over me".
GVS stated but you do this.
WOW.
Judge answered again.
We're wasting time.

 

[tmar]

#Rohde Anderson: Liberty has in its response said that Jason Rohde is the nominated beneficiary and the policy has not been paid out despite the finding of murder, not suicide. "My guess is that they monitoring this case." @TeamNews24

#Rohde Estate has been paying for daughters' maintenance and education expenses. Monthly allowance for twins, weekly allowance for eldest daughter in Cape Town, dental, optician, other accounts such as for outings and stationery. @TeamNews24

#Rohde Court hears there won't be enough money in estate to pay for daughters' expenses. Anderson says money may come from life policy and sale of Plettenberg Bay property. @TeamNews24

#Rohde Anderson concludes that until case reaches finality, he will not be able to close the estate. He is excused. @TeamNews24

 

[Tortoise]

Next witness Dr Abrahams

(eta seem to remember a witness of same name in HvB trial - maybe not same witness? she has researched violence against women)

 

[tmar]

Witness Mr Anderson states: "If a person, is convicted of a serious crime, that person cannot inherit."

 

[Tortoise]

Witness Mr Anderson states: "If a person, is convicted of a serious crime, that person cannot inherit."

So he really had no right to touch the inheritance before the trial concluded. But then again I think the payments were made to him by court order. (not by the criminal court)

 

[tmar]

#Rohde Abrahams: Intimate partner violence is the most common violence experienced by women. Gender-based violence is also an important term. @TeamNews24

• #Rohde Abrahams: Femicide can be explained as murder specifically because the victim is women and the power differential is very important.

• #Rohde Abrahams speaks about intimate partner violence. "In SA we have found between 25-45% of women report ever experiences of physical/sexual and emotional abuse by a current or ex-husband or boyfriend". @TeamNews24

#Rohde Abrahams says emotional abuse is the most common locally. This is when people are insulted, belittled, humiliated, scared, threatened and stopped from seeing friends. @TeamNews24

#Rohde Abrahams: "Women are more likely to report the violence if perpetrated by stranger. Shame, embarrassment, self-blame and a sense of hope are among the common reasons why women do not report to police or to families."

 

[tmar]

#Rohde Judge Salie-Hlophe asks that State focuses questions on specific crime at hand. "It is without a doubt that there is an epidemic of femicide and gender-based violence", she says. @TeamNews24

#Rohde Abrahams: The Rohde family was a well-off family. I certainly read about emotional abuse. Whether femicide is an immediate response after that, I cannot rule on that. But when there are disputes, that can be a basis for quite severe forms of violence. @TeamNews24

#Rohde Abrahams: A qualitative study found that a harsh childhood can play a role and these men may carry those emotions into their lives. @TeamNews24

#Rohde Salie-Hlophe refers to report where Abrahams says: "An area which is noted to particularly cause conflict is jealousy and practices related to having multiple partners.. It is absolutely normative for South African men to have more than one sexual partner." @TeamNews24

 

[tmar]

#Rohde Abrahams says she did study in 1999 and replicated it 10 years later. In numbers this was 1394 women killed by intimate partners in 1999 and 1024 in 2009. @TeamNews24

#Rohde VDS asks which country has lowest incidents of intimate partner violence. Abrahams: "Countries where patriarchy is not a very strong feature of that society. All countries have aspects of patriarchy." She says Sweden, Norway have low levels of violence. @TeamNews24

 

[Tortoise]

Don't tell me he is going to say Rohde is a product of the SA culture and therefore his crime is excusable. (talking about countries where there are lower levels of femicide)

 

[Tortoise]

He's got a cheek referring to Panieri-Peter's report which was dismissed by the court.

 

[Tortoise]

Any minute now we're going to hear they are doing more load shedding. My feed has gone offline again.