Cape Town - Former Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International CEO, Jason Rohde, convicted of murdering his wife, Susan Rohde, was sentenced to an effective 20 years direct imprisonment by the Western Cape High Court in Cape Town on Wednesday.
Rohde was arrested shortly after Susan's body was found on July 24, 2016, with an electric cord wrapped around her neck, hanging from a hook behind the bathroom door of the room the couple shared at the Spier Wine Estate hotel in Stellenbosch.
He was sentenced to 18 years for murder and 5 years for obstructing the ends of justice, three of the years in the second count would run concurrently with the murder charge.
Western Cape High Court Judge Gayaat Salie-Hlophe said: “Susan died a painful and gruesome death. She didn't die immediately. She suffered.
“You executed successive blows and fatal force in the taking of her life,” she said.
She said Jason didn't hesitate in the commission thereof and instead waited for her to die.
Judge Salie-Hlophe said according to Jason's evidence during trial he saw his wife's death to mean that it is a time for him to fight for his life.
She further said Jason, in the staging of Susan's suicide, used her body as a show house.
“This was your staging plan, for others to leave thinking this woman has killed herself.
“Blaming her for her demise, you murdered her, adding insult to injury,” she said.
Western Cape High Court Judge Gayaat Salie-Hlophe sentences convicted wife-killer Jason Rohde to an effective 20 years behind bars. Video: Zodidi Dano/Cape Argus
“The State proved beyond reasonable doubt your version is not possibly reasonably true.”
Jason was convicted on November 8, 2018 of murder and obstructing the ends of justice.
"Susan suffered in the last moments of her life. The use of violence was excessive," Judge Gayaat Salie-Hlophe said when handing down sentencing.
"You did not just take Susan's life, you completely disregarded the sanctity thereof.
"You forged ahead unfettered by conscience," Judge Salie-Hlophe said.
Judge Salie-Hlophe had previously said the “overstaged” suicide hanging indicated that there was no care showed by Jason.
“There was no care. I struggled to find acknowledgement from Mr Rohde that she was his wife, the mother of his children There was a grotesque vilification,” she had said.
According to the judgment, the two got into an argument after Susan discovered that Rohde had lied about ending his extramarital affair with an employee.