Cape Town: Noted cricket columnist Peter Roebuck was about to be detained over an alleged sexual assault on a Zimbabwean Facebook friend when he committed suicide at his hotel here, his colleague Jim Maxwell has said.
Maxwell, a fellow commentator with the ABC radio, was the last of Roebuck’s friends to see him alive on Saturday night and has given some details about his friend’s last moments.
He told AM radio that the police confirmed to him they were there to detain Roebuck over an alleged sexual assault on a Zimbabwean man who had made the complaint against the respected commentator.
“I’m sure what happened was triggered by the visit of the police and the fact that they were going to charge him with an alleged sexual assault, which meant he was going to be detained and would then have to appear in court on Monday,” Maxwell said.
“This is what I discovered when I went to his room after he made a very agitated, dramatic, despairing phone call to my room. He was absolutely on edge.
“When I arrived the detective came out and filled me in on the details. It was then that I asked if I could speak to him (Roebuck) and the detective said ‘well, just for a moment’, because clearly they didn’t want their case compromised in some way, I suppose, by what he may have said to me.
Maxwell said he was only a few moments with Roebuck before he took the extreme step.
Meanwhile, Roebuck’s mysterious personal life has become a subject of speculation after his suicide with a radio host claiming that the celebrated journalist made him feel “uncomfortable” and acted “inappropriately” during an interaction.
Triple M radio host Gus Worland, who was a rookie cricketer in the Somerset team captained by Roebuck, claimed that the incident happened during a 1985 English county season. (PTI)