Cape Town - A security guard at Spier Wine Estate has testified he saw a
white couple arguing outside the hotel in the early hours of the
morning on the day that Susan Rohde died.
Susan, wife of former property boss Jason Rohde, was found dead on July 24 last year. Her body was found in the bathroom in a hotel room the couple had been occupying.
Jason said he had found her hanging on the bathroom door. He said she had hanged herself with an electronic cord.
However, a post-mortem report done by the State found she died of manual strangulation.
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Jason is on trial for her murder.
On Tuesday, while wrapping up the case for the year, the prosecution called on Kwanele Mabeta, a security guard who was on duty doing the rounds at the hotel that morning.
He said he while he was doing his patrol he saw a white couple, a woman in a white gown and a man wearing black pants.
Mabeta said he could tell by their facial expressions that they were having an argument.
He said the man pushed the woman and she moved backwards before they continued walking.
“I did not see where they had gone, but later on I went past room 221 and the door was open,” he said.
Room 221 is the room the Rohdes were occupying that weekend.
Mabeta said this happened shortly after he had clocked in his security device at 3.23am.
Defence advocate Pete Mihalik read out an initial statement made by the witness where he said that the man would push the woman in a white gown away whenever she touched him during the argument he witnessed.
He asked why the guard did not intervene.
Mabeta replied that there was no crying or fighting so he didn’t need to interfere.
His testimony follows Jason Rohde’s version of a fight that broke out where Susan had fallen on her right side after she tripped on a pavement and landed on the edge of the garden bed.
The matter has been rolled over to February 5.