Cape Town - Jason Rohde’s former mistress stands by her Facebook accusations that the Rohde investigating officers raided her home without a search warrant and that it took “whisky pay-offs” to get her confiscated laptop and cellphone returned.
The development comes in the wake of a damage control apology this week from Sotheby’s estate agent and single mom Jolene Alterskye, 37, to the judge and the prosecution after accusing them of colluding “to create a crime which never happened so they can lock up a high-profile white man”.
In her one-page apology, Alterskye blamed her outburst on the “severe psychological stress” of Rohde’s arrest and trial.
Alterskye’s accusations followed on the heels of Judge Gayaat Salie- Hlophe’s damning sentencing of her ex last Wednesday to 20 years for the murder of his wife, Susan Rohde, at Spier Hotel in July 2016 and staging it to look like suicide.
Alterskye did not include Saps detectives Sergeants Marlon Appolis and Stephen Adams in her apology - “because when her goods were returned she had to give the police whisky”, said her lawyer, William Booth.
Asked if they had raided Alterskye’s home without a warrant, Booth replied: “Seemingly so.”
Although she was never called to testify in Rohde’s trial, Alterskye was a central figure in evidence, including testimony, about Susan Rohde’s final hours. Susan, catching Rhode texting Alterskye late at night from the bathroom of their hotel room, sparked a fight that ended with him smothering and throttling her, the court heard.
Alterskye also managed to maintain a stony silence throughout Rohde’s trial, never appearing in the court gallery once to be quoted or posting any social media comments.
Until last week, when she lashed out at a statement the police posted on the Saps Facebook page immediately after Rohde’s sentencing.
Praising the “sterling” detective work of Appolis and Adams, SAPS lauded their “winning streak” of successful convictions in three high-profile murder cases.
Alterskye’s Facebook response read: “These 2 ‘officers’ did nothing but lie and acted unlawfully raiding my home and intimidating my child without a legal search warrant. After months of broken promises, I received my ‘illegally’ confiscated goods through whisky pay-offs, as that is the only language they understand. This is not people we should respect nor promote, so hopefully, they do not get a higher rank. I do hope these detectives are not the norm and that there are good cops out there.”
Alterskye was referring to her phone and computer, which were seized by the officers in September 2016.
Then, in a later text message that was widely publicised, Alterskye lashed out at Judge Salie-Hlophe and Rohde prosecutor Louis van Niekerk.
“I am (appalled at) this so-called justice system, the whole case was an attempt by the State to create a crime which never happened so they can lock up a ‘high-profile white man’ to try (to) show the country that they doing their job. As far as I am concerned, the State and the judge are the same team and if the State acted unlawfully in illegally searching properties and bribing State witnesses, what else did they fabricate in order to get their Xmas bonus? A corrupt country starts with corrupt police, and I do hope the truth (will) be revealed and actual justice served.”
In a swift damage control exercise this week, her “unequivocal” apology retracting her “unfortunate comments” for “harm caused” was hand-delivered to Salie-Hlophe and the NPA. “From the time that Mr Rohde was arrested, throughout the trial and at present, I had been under intense media and public scrutiny,” explained Alterskye.
“This has caused me severe psychological stress and it has caused my family, which includes my minor son, considerable emotional strain. My personal life, as well as my family and business life, has literally been turned upside-down and I realise now that I was unable to cope with all of this intense pressure over a considerable period of time.
“Without thinking rationally, I made the comments, whereas I should not have done so. I also did not realise when making the said comments that there would be such a big reaction to same.
“On reflection, the way that I have behaved was unacceptable and I can only but humbly apologise to those who have been affected. I respect the judicial process and the standing of the courts. I hereby will not engage in any irresponsible and unfounded discussion of this matter on social media or with other persons.”
Police sources confirmed that Appolis and Adams had not received an apology. “She must open a case with Ipid or SAPS so that her allegations can be investigated,” said provincial police spokesperson Captain Frederick van Wyk.