Cape Town - The family of the well-known cricket journalist Peter Roebuck, who died when he fell from the sixth floor of a Cape Town hotel four years ago, may soon know more about his death.
They appear to have forced authorities here to reopen the inquiry into his death.
Four years ago, police said that Roebuck had committed suicide after a Zimbabwean man alleged he had been sexually assaulted by the writer.
In February 2013, a court, in closed session, found his death to have been be a suicide.
But two years ago, the Roebuck family - led by his mother Elizabeth - were outraged that the verdict of death by “multiple injuries” was reached without their lawyers having been notified.
According to court documents, it was reached in the absence of any “additional evidence”.
For several years, the family and their lawyers had little success in their dealings with authorities, but now it has been reported that Roebuck’s family might be close to getting the nod for the inquiry to be reopened, forcing the police to show the evidence on which they had based their claims.
“After four years of pushing for an open inquest into Peter’s death, we look forward to his family and its legal teams in South Africa and England finally being given the evidence they have been denied,” a family lawyer said.
“With it will come the chance for them, and all those who believed in Peter, to ask the witnesses present when he lost his life the questions they want answered about events on the night of November 12, 2011.”
The family wanted to know, among other things, how Roebuck was able to open the window of his hotel room despite the fact that there were police officers present who had come to arrest him on the sexual assault allegation, and whether his injuries were consistent with claims of suicide.
Cape Argus