Cricket Journalist Committed Suicide After Police Questioning

Peter Roebuck

News broke of acclaimed cricket journalist, Peter Roebuck’s death this weekend. Up until now, motives for his apparent suicide have remained a mystery, with hotel staff and police remaining tight-lipped on the matter. Roebuck committed suicide by jumping six floors to his death at the Newlands Southern Sun hotel. Apart from his journalism career, Roebuck was also involved with the cricket coaching of teenage boys. The incident happened immediately after two policemen came see him about a case of sexual assault.

From last Wednesday to Friday, Roebuck had been covering the historic events of the first Test at Newlands won by South Africa. He had been questioned at his hotel at about 21h00 on Saturday night by a uniformed police officer and a detective over an “alleged sexual assault.”

Roebuck, who was agitated, asked a fellow cricket journalist for help. ”Can you come down to my room quickly? I’ve got a problem,” he said. He asked for help to find a lawyer and for contact to be made with the students he helped to house in Pietermaritzburg, near Durban.

Minutes later Roebuck fell to his death from a window. It is believed only the uniformed officer was in the room. Paramedics rushed to the hotel but Roebuck was pronounced dead. Police established a crime scene and took personal items from the room, including a laptop.

In 2001, Roebuck was given a suspended jail sentence after he admitted caning three young cricketers he had offered to coach.

[Source: Sydney Morning Herald]