Questioned over sexual assault, Roebuck commits suicide

Cape Town: Widely respected cricket writer Peter Roebuck, who has considerable following in India, committed suicide after police reportedly questioned him on allegations of sexual assault.

The 55-year-old British national, who captained Somerset in the 1980s, was in South Africa to cover the current series between South Africa and Australia.

According to the Western Cape South Africa police, the incident occurred last night around 9.15 pm local time.

There were reports that Roebuck had been spoken to by the police last night after which he appeared to be tense.

It was not clear why Roebuck had taken the extreme step but the police said, there were no suspicious circumstances, surrounding his death.

However international media reports say that he jumped from his hotel room on the sixth floor even as a uniformed police officer was still present there. The writer died on impact.

A report in the Sydney Morning Herald, a newspaper in which Roebuck’s columns appeared regularly, said a detective and a uniformed police officer from the sexual crimes unit began speaking with him in his hotel room about 9 pm.

Roebuck then sought help from a fellow cricket journalist by saying, ‘Can you come down to my room quickly? I’ve got a problem’

Cape Town police captain Frederick van Wyk refused comment when asked if Roebuck was questioned about a sexual assault but ‘Herald Sun’ quoted a source as saying that police did question the cricket commentator about such allegations.

“The police came to his room and wanted to speak to him. I’m told he was being questioned for sexual assault,” the source told Herald Sun, another Australian newspaper.

Known for his strong opinion, Roebuck who also wrote for Indian publication The Hindu had demanded the sacking of former Australian Test captain Ricky Ponting after fractious Sydney Test match against India in January 2008.

That match was marred by the racial abuse incident involving India’s off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds. Roebuck had blasted the Australian team by calling it a “pack of wild dogs” for their behaviour in that Test.

Roebuck was in South Africa to cover the Australia-South Africa series as a radio commentator for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He also used to write for Australia’s Fairfax newspapers.

No sooner the news of his death came out, tributes started to pour in. Indian batting great Rahul Dravid said he was a keen follower of Roebuck because of his unique writing style.

“He was a fantastic writer cum commentator, one of the best in this generation. He was someone who was very opinionated, but was very independent.

“I looked forward to reading what he wrote about but more importantly how he wrote it. He had this incredible ability to use words to make the game of cricket and the players come alive. It was also wonderful that he loved India and loved coming to India,” Dravid said.

Former England captain Tony Greig and well-known Indian commentator and writer Harsha Bhogle paid tributes to Roebuck on their respective Twitter accounts. “The death of Peter Roebuck leaves the grass less green and cricket without its most effective investigative journalist,” wrote Greig.

Bhogle wrote, “Devastated. My dear friend and one of the greatest cricket writers ever Peter Roebuck passes away. He was meant to write about cricket in the manner Sachin Tendulkar was born to play it.”

Watch video of reactions to his death PTI