Former cricket columnist Peter Roebuck was “in despair” and being arrested on suspicion of sexual assault before he died from a fall in South Africa, an inquest has found.
The new details of Roebuck’s 2011 death have emerged, 13 years on, at the conclusion of a UK inquest on Friday (UK time).
Renowned cricketer and commentator Peter Roebuck’s death has been ruled a suicide.Credit:
Roebuck, a former Somerset captain and columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, had been in Cape Town to commentate on a match between Australia and South Africa in November 2011 when he died in what has now been ruled a suicide.
According to the BBC, the inquest heard that Roebuck, 55, had allegedly sexually assaulted a 26-year-old man in his room days earlier on November 7, when they met to discuss whether Roebuck could financially support the student through university.
A complaint was made to the police on November 12, and officers went to Roebuck’s hotel to arrest him that evening.
Detective Aubrey McDonald, the arresting officer, said in a statement that “Peter Roebuck had mentioned he was well known in the cricket fraternity and that his arrest will be front-page news worldwide”.
McDonald said Roebuck had stepped outside the hotel room to make a phone call and then heard his colleague, Lieutenant Cecil Jacobs, shouting at Roebuck.
An incident then took place which resulted in Roebuck’s death, the inquest heard.
“At the time of the incident, the deceased appeared very calm and in control of himself,” McDonald said.
Commentator Jim Maxwell, a friend of Roebuck working at the ABC, told the inquest he had received a call late that evening asking him to go to Roebuck’s room. There he was greeted by a police officer and saw his friend sitting on the bed.
“He was totally in despair,” Maxwell said.
He said Roebuck had told him he needed a lawyer and asked him to contact people at his home, before police asked Maxwell to leave.
The same cause of death – multiple injuries – was also recorded at an inquest held in South Africa, which was not attended by family members.
Matthew Lyall, the forensic pathologist who carried out the post-mortem examination in the UK, wrote in his report: “There were no findings to specifically suggest that a third party was directly involved in any of the injuries, but the involvement of a third party cannot be ruled out solely on the basis of the pathological findings.”
A decade before his death, Roebuck received a suspended prison sentence for common assault in the UK after caning three South African teenage cricketers staying with him in 1999.
Roebuck’s sister, Margaret Frostick, told the Cheshire court he had pleaded guilty “just so he could go and carry on with his job. He was horrified that such false allegations could be laid against him”.
Some young African cricketers have painted a darker picture of the renowned cricket writer and philanthropist, speaking of repeated beatings during stays in his house, while also praising his generosity.
Frostick was joined at Friday’s inquest by two other relatives of Roebuck.
The coroner Jacqueline Devonish told them: “I’m sorry the case has taken such a long time for us to progress, but it was in part waiting to find out about a renewed hearing in South Africa which hasn’t come to pass.”
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