Cape Town - The credibility of a maintenance worker, Desmond Daniels, who was the first to see Susan Rohde’s body, came under question after he allegedly had lunch with his boss, Joep Schoof, the general manager at Spier Wine Estate.
On Thursday, defence advocate Graham van der Spuy showed the court an electronic image of Daniels having lunch with Schoof on Wednesday.
Van der Spuy questioned the witness who denied it and said he had spent lunch break alone. “You are an employee of a well known hotel group, Spier, you go and have lunch with the general manager and you lie about it. And you are caught on camera,” said Van der Spuy, to which Daniels replied, “No comment”.
Jason Rohde is on trial for the murder of his wife, Susan. Video: Cindy Waxa/African News Agency
Van der Spuy said Daniels' denial made him wonder what the witness was hiding. He said the conversation between the two of them concerned him. “The question is whether he was influenced, did he breach his oath? Was he coached?
“We are dealing with his reliability and his credibility. The State has repeatedly said that this is a crucial witness. We have on record he told a blatant untruth; if
that doesn’t talk of his credibility and reliability...
“The witness has been coached. His story has evolved and changed considerably over a period,” said Van der Spuy.
The defence advocate also raised an objection with Western Cape High Court Judge Gayaat Salie-Hlophe after she questioned him on repeatedly asking Daniels to demonstrate how the cord was hanging.
Judge Salie-Hlophe said the witness did the same demonstration on Wednesday.
Murder-accused Jason Rohde in court. Picture: Cindy Waxa/African News Agency
However, Van der Spuy said the judge was interfering with his “right as a legal representative to cross-examine” a witness.
Susan Rohde was found dead in the bathroom of the room at the Spier Wine Estate she was sharing with her husband Jason Rohde. It is the State’s case that he killed her, but the defence argues that she had hanged herself with a electronic cord.
Earlier in court, Van der Spuy poked holes in Daniels testimony.
He read two affidavits made by another Spier employee, Mavis Dingalibali, and a guest, Lee Williams.
Maintenance worker Desmond Daniels describes how he untied the lifeless body of Susan Rohde from the bathroom door. Video: Zodidi Dano/Cape Argus
Dingalibali, a switchboard operator, said she was the one who called Daniels on radio and that there was no male person. She said she told Daniels to attend to room 221 because the bathroom door would not open and was locked from the inside.
However, Daniels refuted the allegations. “I am sticking to my point. I spoke to Nicholas, I just don’t know his surname.”
In his affidavit, Williams claims to have seen Daniels enter room 221 and that he spoke to Daniels when he left. “You told Mr Lee, ‘I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it she hanged herself’. Did you not say that?” Van der Spuy pressed Daniels, but he denied this.
The trial resumes on Monday.
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