Cricket commentator Peter Roebuck is believed to have been talked to by police investigating sexual assault claims. Picture: ABC Source: Supplied
Cricket commentator and journalist Peter Roebuck died after jumping from his hotel room in South Africa. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
PETER Roebuck was being investigated over allegations of indecently assaulting a young man, according to reports in South Africa.
The internationally renowned sports journalist died after plunging from the sixth floor of a Cape Town hotel while being questioned by police on Saturday night, the Herald Sun reported.
Police had told Roebuck that a complaint of a sexual nature had been made against him by a friend he met on the internet, media reports said.
It is alleged Roebuck, 55, met a man, 26, at the hotel with plans to discuss a possible university sponsorship.
Roebuck is alleged to have tried to seduce the friend and have sex with him against his will, The New Age website said.
Other sources said the investigation related to alleged indecent assault.
Police sources said Roebuck was either going to be formally questioned in the Southern Sun Newlands Hotel on Saturday night, or arrested and taken to a station for questioning over the allegations.
It is believed Roebuck moved towards a window and jumped out.
South Africa's Times Live website revealed that the Independent Complaints Directorate - the body that reviews deaths that occur in police custody or as a result of police action - was also investigating the death.
"Apparently police had gone to the hotel to take him to the police station to question him and then he died," said ICD spokesman Moses Dlamini.
Dennis Chadya, one of many students Roebuck helped house and educate in his adopted South African home town of Pietermaritzburg, said his death and the allegations were a shock.
"We cannot comment on the allegations as we have not heard anything official," he told the Herald Sun.
"But he was a father to me and I don't think any son would take that lightly. He was not only supporting us financially he was helping us with all accommodation and living expenses.
"All that he was doing here was giving. If you look at the number of people he helped throughout the world you can see he was one of a kind."
Another student, Mathias Chirombo, said he could not believe Roebuck would kill himself. He had emailed him only hours earlier and had been in good spirits.
"I'm trying to make sense of it all. I really don't get it - I want to know what really went wrong in just a few hours," he said.
The results of an autopsy may not be available for at least six weeks.
The chairman of Learning For a Better World, the international charity founded by Roebuck in 2006, said he was a tremendously passionate individual.
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