Jason Rohde may have murdered his wife, Susan, but he reckons he should be released from jail so that he can stop a “hostile takeover” of his company.

The convicted wife killer is set to do battle with property mogul Lew Geffen, who holds a 25% share in Rohde’s Glasshouse Realty & Associates (Pty) Ltd, with the legal wheels already in action.

According to News24, Geffen has been setting aside money that was meant to be paid from the King Edward Trust (Rohde is a director and beneficiary of the trust) to Glasshouse:

Geffen filed an application in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on July 9 to stop Rohde and his lawyer, Tony Mostert who is an acting trustee and director in the companies, from acting as an active member of the company…

Geffen in his papers said the day Rohde was convicted, he was disqualified from being listed as a trustee and director.

According to Rohde, he would oppose the application as his daughters’ financial stability depended on it – there was only enough money for maintenance and support of his children until the end of the year.

Netwerk24 reported Rohde maintained he should be released on bail so he could run the company properly and also properly oppose the court application, which he could not do from jail.

He also argued he had a constitutional right to be released on bail pending his appeal, which might only be heard within the next two years.

Asking to be released from jail, where you’re serving an effective 20-year sentence, so that you can “run the company properly” sure sounds like some kind of privilege.

The State has opposed Rohde’s application, and back in April, Judge Gayaat Salie-Hlophe refused his application for leave to appeal his conviction and sentence, “saying the defence had rehashed arguments made during Rohde’s trial and sentencing proceedings and the submissions had already been decided on”.

In that same ruling, Salie-Hlophe added the sentence handed down (18 years for murder, as well as five years for obstructing justice for trying to make Susan’s death look like a suicide, with three years of the latter charge running concurrently with the murder charge) was fair.

With all of that in mind, it would seem unlikely that this latest bail application will be successful.

[source:news24]