‘Roebuck’s “sons” revolted against sexual harassment’

Cape Town: Deceased cricket writer Peter Roebuck’s ``sons`` had revolted against his beatings and sexual harassment during early 2011, his student has revealed.

Zimbabwean student Petros Tani said that Roebuck`s ``family`` had decided to no longer comply with the discipline regime he had enforced in return for paying their tertiary education fees and living costs. ``We had a house meeting with Peter and we voted to say that we no longer would allow him to beat us or intrude on our daily lives. We felt that he was treating us as five-year-olds, not wanting us to grow up and live our own lives without interference,`` a daily quoted Tani, as saying. Tani said that Roebuck had refused to change to change his behaviour and instead offered to sell his house and pay 80,000 rands to each of the 16 students or transfer house ownership to them. The students initially voted to accept the payment, which would have effectively dissolved Roebuck`s ``family``, but changed their minds when they “realised that the payment was not enough to sustain”, and asked Roebuck to remain their father. “But this was out of financial necessity .We were not happy how he was treating us. We were now too old to be treated in this way,`` Tani said. Tani said that Roebuck had been under increasing financial pressure in 2011 after spending an estimated 100,000 dollars each year on the family. Roebuck reportedly subjected his “family” consisting of Zimbabwean orphans and impoverished students to beatings and sexual assault. Roebuck was personally paying for the tuition of 42 young African men at the time of his death on November 12. He allegedly jumped from a sixth-floor window of a Cape Town Hotel after the police charged him with the sexual assault of 26-year-old Zimbabwean student Itai Gondo. ANI