Roebuck’s family win battle to reopen inquest
AN inquest into the death of the former cricketer and journalist Peter Roebuck is to be reopened after prosecutors in South Africa deemed the move to be ‘in the interests of justice’.
Roebuck, who died in November 2011 aged 55 after falling from a sixthfloor hotel room in Cape Town, was said by South African police to have committed suicide, a view that was not properly scrutinised at a closed hearing in 2013.
The former Somerset captain had been arrested over allegations of sexual assault shortly before his death. But lawyers representing his family and his estate have consistently argued for a public hearing, so that the conduct of police on the scene can undergo proper scrutiny and the circumstances surrounding his death be fully examined.
‘Ever since, our clients have sought an open inquest to allow the circumstances of his death to be examined at a public hearing, as is the norm when a prisoner meets a violent death in police custody,’ said George van Niekerk of law firm Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs.
Several questions are still to be answered, including whether Roebuck’s injuries were consistent with a fall, and how he managed to open the window and jump out without the police officer present noticing.
There is also disquiet that alleged Facebook messages between Roebuck and Itai Gondo, a Zimbabwean man who claimed he had sexually assaulted him, were never found on Roebuck’s laptop. Gondo’s whereabouts are not known.
David Hood, the barrister who was instructed on behalf of Roebuck seven years ago, said in a statement to The Mail on Sunday: ‘From the outset, the family and supporters of the late Peter Roebuck have put their faith in the legal system of South Africa. It is important to all internationally recognised systems of justice that justice is not only done, but is seen to be done. That could never have been with the death of Peter Roebuck, unless and until the circumstances of his death were examined at a legally convened hearing held in public with witnesses called and questioned under oath.’
South Africa’s director of public prosecutions in Western Province will now reopen the case, though no inquest date has been set. Hood added: ‘The DPP’s office has a discretion and, in this case, has exercised it in favour of open justice and transparency.’