The Western Cape High Court on Wednesday sentenced Jason Rohde to an effective 20 years in prison for killing his wife Susan and staging her suicide in Stellenbosch in 2016.

Judge Gayaat Salie-Hlophe said 18 years for the murder was an appropriate sentence. He received five years for staging the suicide, three of which would run concurrently.

Rohde, 50, was found guilty in November of murdering his wife at the Spier hotel in July 2016 and of obstructing justice by trying to make her death look self-inflicted.

The property mogul had "staged her death as a play" and roped in various "actors" and "extras" to tell a story that she had committed suicide, Salie-Hlophe said in her judgment.

He has maintained his innocence throughout the trial. His position was that his affair drove his wife to take her life.

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