Cricketer “suicided in wake of sexual assault investigation”

A former cricket player who was arrested for possibly assaulting someone was very sad before he was found dead in South Africa, a hearing found.

Cricket reporter and former Somerset captain Peter Roebuck, who was 55 years old, passed away in November 2011 in Cape Town while working as a sports commentator.

Mr Roebuck is accused of attacking a 26-year-old man in a hotel room, as reported in Cheshire Coroner’s Court.

The investigation found that Mr. Roebuck died by suicide 13 years ago.

The cricketer played for Somerset for a long time and also led the team. After retiring, he worked as a commentator for BBC Radio’s Test Match Special.

The writer for the Sydney Morning Herald was staying at the Southern Sun hotel to talk about a game between Australia and South Africa.

The investigation on Friday found out that Mr. Roebuck is accused of sexually assaulting a 26-year-old man in his room on 7 November. They had planned to discuss whether he could help the student with money for university.

Someone told the police about a problem on November 12, and the police went to Mr. Roebuck’s hotel to arrest him that same evening.

Jim Maxwell, a friend of Mr. Roebuck, got a call late at night asking him to go to his room. He works for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Mr Maxwell, who was staying on the same floor of the hotel, said he went into the room after a police officer greeted him and saw his friend sitting on the bed.

“He was really sad,” he said.

He said that Mr Roebuck told him to call people at his house and to find a lawyer, then the police asked him to leave.

‘In charge of himself’

Arresting officer Det Aubrey McDonald said that Peter Roebuck claimed to be famous in the cricket world and that his arrest will be big news around the world.

Mr McDonald went out the hotel room to make a phone call and heard his work friend Lt Cecil Jacobs yelling at Mr Roebuck.

An incident happened and Mr. Roebuck died, according to the investigation.

Mr McDonald said: “When the incident happened, the person who died seemed very relaxed and in charge of himself. ”

The court was told that examinations done in South Africa and the UK both found that Mr Roebuck died from multiple injuries.

The inquest in South Africa found that the person died the same way. The family did not go to the inquest.

Dr Matthew Lyall, the doctor who examined the body after death, said in his report that there is no evidence to definitely show that someone else caused the injuries. But it’s also possible that someone else was involved, based on the examination.

At the end of the investigation, Jacqueline Devonish, the senior coroner for Cheshire, thanked the family members who came to court.

She apologized for the long time it took to make progress on the case, and mentioned that they were waiting for a renewed hearing in South Africa, but it hasn’t happened yet.