During questioning on allegations of sexual assault, the well-known cricket writer Peter Roebuck was “totally in despair” before jumping from the hotel window, according to evidence presented at an English inquest nearly 13 years after his death. In November 2011, 55-year-old Roebuck traveled to Cape Town to provide commentary on an Australia vs. South Africa match. He fell from the sixth story of the Southern Sun hotel and died.
The jury for the inquest at Cheshire Coroner’s Court in northwest England concluded on Friday, February 9, that Roebuck had taken his own life. During his playing career, Roebuck captained the English county of Somerset. In the coroner’s hearing, Roebuck—a Sydney Morning Herald columnist—was accused of sexually abusing a 26-year-old man in his hotel room on November 8, the day they were supposed to meet to talk about whether the commentator might support the student financially through college.
After a report was received on November 12, police went to Roebuck’s hotel that evening in order to place him under arrest. As the arresting officer, Detective Aubrey McDonald, explained, he had gone outside the hotel room to get on the phone. That’s when he heard Lieutenant Cecil Jacobs, his colleague, yelling at Roebuck.
“I now know that the sound I heard seconds later was Peter Roebuck falling to the first-floor balcony,” McDonald reportedly said, according to News18.
He could not prove his innocence and was appalled that he could be the target of such unfounded accusations. Sister of Peter Roebuck
Remarkably, in 2001, Peter Roebuck was given a suspended prison sentence in England for common assault, having previously been known to cane three adolescent South African cricket players who had lodged with him in 1999. Dr. Margaret Frostick, Roebuck’s sister, informed the Cheshire court that he had pleaded guilty merely to keep his job.
Frostick stated, “He was appalled that he could be the target of such baseless accusations and that he was powerless to keep trying to establish his innocence.”
Peter Roebuck’s family was not present at a previous inquest held in South Africa, where the same cause of death was stated. On Friday, though, Frostick was there along with two other relatives.
Senior coroner for Cheshire, Jacqueline Devonish, apologized that the case had taken so long to move forward, adding that part of the delay was due to waiting to learn about a scheduled hearing in South Africa that hasn’t happened.
The Oddington native participated in 335 first-class games and averaged 37.27 while scoring 17,558 runs. With the ball, he also claimed 72 wickets. Peter Roebuck, meanwhile, participated in 298 List A cricket matches, amassing 7,244 runs and taking 51 wickets.
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