Cape Town - Convicted wife killer Jason Rohde will spend Christmas with his three daughters after he has been granted R200 000 bail while he waits to appeal his conviction.
A Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruling on Wednesday by Judge President Mandisa Maya and Judges Christian van der Merwe and Caroline Nicolis set aside an earlier Western Cape High Court decision that Rohde await his appeal behind bars.
In terms of the strict bail conditions imposed by the SCA, Rohde is required to furnished a R1 million guarantee to the registrar of the Western Cape High Court. It further stipulates that Rohde must reside at his residential address in Plettenberg Bay.
Should he need to be in Johannesburg or Cape Town to attend court cases or conduct business, he needs to live in Lonehill Village in Johannesburg or Green Point respectively.
Furthermore, he is not allowed to be away from Plettenberg for more than five days. Rohde is also required to report to the Plettenberg Bay police station between 6am and 6pm on Wednesday and Saturdays. He is also prohibited from applying for any passport.
Rohde’s application stems from a decision by Western Cape High Court Judge Gayaat Salie-Hlophe who in August refused his application to be released on bail.
Rohde was convicted on November 8 last year of the murder of his wife Susan at the Spier Hotel in Stellenbosch in 2016 and defeating the course of justice.
He was sentenced on February 27 this year to a 20-year prison term.
His grounds for release were that his business interests would suffer if he remained incarcerated and that he needed to maintain his children financially.
@TheCapeArgus