Chasing Shadows: the Life and Death of Peter Roebuck Free
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FREE CHASING SHADOWS: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PETER ROEBUCK PDF Tim Lane,Elliot Cartledge | 304 pages | 18 Nov 2015 | HARDIE GRANT BOOKS | 9781743790120 | English | South Yarra, Australia Chasing Shadows: The Life & Death of Peter Roebuck by Tim Lane Investigations into the death of Peter Roebuck have been reopened. Credit: Fairfax Media. It was a death that rocked the cricket world. At 55 years of age, former county cricketer and renowned journalist Peter Roebuck fell from a window of his South African hotel after being arrested over allegations of sexual assault. Cape Town police claimed Roebuck died by suicide. But now, seven years later, investigations into the death of the former Somerset cricket captain and Fairfax Media columnist will begin again. The family's lawyer confirmed on Sunday that the inquest into Roebuck's death had been reopened "at [their] behest". The family were not invited to attend the original, closed, inquest inwhich upheld the police account of events. Roebuck died in November after falling from a sixth-floor hotel room in the Southern Sun hotel in Cape Town, near Newlands cricket ground. Roebuck was dropped at the entrance to the Southern Sun hotel at 8. After entering his room, he was arrested by police investigating allegations of sexual assault made against Roebuck by a young Zimbabwean man. His family, however, did not accept that account. So I said 'I don't believe it'. And Chasing Shadows: The Life and Death of Peter Roebuck never believed it,'' the thenyear-old widow said. She said at the time that the Roebuck family believed that new evidence and new testimony would highlight inconsistencies and impossibilities in the official version of events. The family had gone to great expense and inconvenience to prepare for an inquest, hiring a leading British barrister and a top South African firm of lawyers. Family members were on standby to fly to South Africa to observe and, if necessary, testify at the inquest. But they were not notified of the inquest and discovered it had been held only after reading an article titled 'Sex-charge arrest sparked suicide' in the Sunday Times of South Africa. They said a second inquest would shed new light on the reasons for Roebuck's arrest and the circumstances of his death. In a article for Fairfax Media Chasing Shadows: The Life and Death of Peter Roebuck wrote of "the two possibilities in relation to the dramatic death and the compelling part of the mystery is that they are light years apart". To judge him as one or the other is to run Chasing Shadows: The Life and Death of Peter Roebuck risk of, on one hand, being soft on a sexual predator or, on the other, of adding to a tragic injustice. South African prosecutors reopen inquest into death of cricket journalist Peter Roebuck. The Sydney Morning Herald. Shortly aftwerwards the family began efforts to have that first inquest quashed. Save Log inregister or subscribe to save articles for later. License this article. Nick Miller Facebook Twitter Email. Review: Chasing Shadows: the life and death of Peter Roebuck It may be comforting to his family and friends to know that Peter Roebuck's final afternoon was spent watching cricket in the company of cricket people. He and Nic Kock, an old friend from Cape Town's University of Western Cape, stayed at the UWC's oval until well after the day's battle had ended, mixing and chatting freely with players in the club rooms. Roebuck even shared a Castle Lager with them. The young cricketers were thrilled to have him in their midst and, as the shadows lengthened, they invited him and Kock to dine with them. Roebuck demurred and asked Kock for a lift back to the hotel. It had been a pleasant afternoon and evening by all accounts. We talked about the future. There was no sense of stress. Peter Roebuck in Credit: Ray Kennedy. Roebuck was dropped at the entrance to Cape Town's Southern Sun hotel at 8. As Kock drove off, at least two policemen were preparing to depart from different stations to rendezvous at the hotel and arrest him. So what exactly had happened in room of the Southern Sun five days earlier? What was it that had so traumatised a young man to move him to file a complaint of sexual assault? And what had led a detective from the Cape Town police to effect an immediate arrest on the alleged perpetrator? For upon learning of the accusation, the police responded in a manner that struck some observers as unusually expeditious in a city weighed down by violent crime. Here was an overtaxed police force, on a weekend, patrolling an urban area with a homicide rate 15 times that of London. Yet within a matter of hours of receiving the brief, the commanding officer had visited the hotel, interviewed the complainant, organised Chasing Shadows: The Life and Death of Peter Roebuck and gone to make an arrest. St Joseph's Orphanage in Harare, where many of those he sponsored spent their early years. The incident in Roebuck's hotel room the previous Monday evening remains a subject of conjecture. We have the alleged victim's statement and speculation from the police, Roebuck's colleagues and his former students. In the days that followed, the victim, a young Zimbabwean named Itai Gondo, went to ground, speaking only to his then girlfriend and turning up at his workplace. He wrote a lengthy message to Roebuck via social media, then cut him off and exchanged a number of text messages with Petros Tani, the pair's mutual friend who'd introduced them — a flurry of communication that ended badly, prompting him to make a formal complaint to police. On the morning of Saturday, November 12,Gondo had been greeted by uniformed officers. Once the gravity of the alleged offence had been outlined, they led him to a meeting room and interviewed him at length. Under oath, this is what he had said: "I am an adult male, a Zimbabwean refugee, 26 years of age, a student. On the between and I arrived at Southern Sun Newlands hotel. Mr Peter Roebuck allowed me into his room He said I must Chasing Shadows: The Life and Death of Peter Roebuck a seat on the couch next to his bed. He asked me to tell him more about myself after what we had discussed on Facebook. After I finished he told me about the student he has been sponsoring. He said I must work hard, he likes discipline, he disciplines hard, he used a cane to discipline if you step out of line. He asked me about my talent. I told him I can fix computers. Mr Pete then said I look thin. I responded that is my metabolism that is like that. He emphasised on male bonding, he then said women won't understand; we as males must bond to be successful. I must be comfortable with him in order Chasing Shadows: The Life and Death of Peter Roebuck have a father-son relationship. Cape Town's Southern Sun hotel, where Roebuck fell from the sixth floor, landing on the concrete awning below. When he noticed that I was uncomfortable, he's said there's nothing sexual about it. It is about openness, that is what he and the other boys are doing. He started hugging me, assuring me that there was nothing wrong He held me Chasing Shadows: The Life and Death of Peter Roebuck with his left hand and holding his penis with his right hand, he put his whole body weight on top of me. He forcibly tried to kiss me, instead he was biting me on my right cheek. I tried to push him over to stop. I was in shock. While pushing off he grabbed my genital parts, that's when I realised he ejaculated all over my stomach. The police photograph of the Southern Sun hotel room: Roebuck was sitting in the chair marked B, a policeman was standing at the spot marked D. I saw Peter Roebuck standing in the window. I screamed at him but he jumped without looking back. I just wiped myself and got dressed and left. While I was leaving he said I must come see him the next day. The day after the incident he tried to contact me via Facebook twice, I didn't respond. I only responded ontelling him he must never contact me. By 5pm, he was at the local police complex at Claremont, where he rang Gondo and arranged to meet. By 7pm, he was in Gondo's Pinelands home, about 10 minutes away from the hotel by car. Another interview was carried out and Facebook communication that had purportedly occurred between Gondo and Roebuck was given to him. After being Chasing Shadows: The Life and Death of Peter Roebuck that the hotel could not state whether Roebuck was in his room or not, McDonald requested the presence of the hotel's security Chasing Shadows: The Life and Death of Peter Roebuck. Together they took the lift to the sixth floor. After the incident in the hotel roomGondo was left reeling. Over the next four days, Tani attempted to placate him after he'd taken the matter to police. He was right about events moving too fast. Roebuck: "Oh well, not too sure what he said. He was a bit strange but he needs a lot of help. Chasing Shadows: The Life and Death of Peter Roebuck needs to call me or other way round.