A Jamaican inquest into the death of late Pakistan cricket coach
Bob Woolmer failed on Wednesday to determine his cause of death,
leaving a mystery that gripped the international cricket world
unresolved.
An 11-member jury said it had not seen enough evidence in the
month-long inquest to decide whether Woolmer was murdered or died
of natural causes in March during the Cricket World Cup, a day
after his team suffered a humiliating loss to Ireland.
The death stunned cricket aficionados, especially after Jamaican
police launched a murder investigation. Suspicions immediately fell
on illegal betting cartels or irate fans.
But three months later, Jamaican police abandoned the murder
probe when three overseas pathologists determined the former
England international had been very sick and died of natural
causes.
The official inquest had been expected to deliver the definitive
conclusion. Instead, the jury said it had reached an "open
verdict".
"The evidence presented was weak," said the foreman of the jury,
who asked not to be identified.
"There were too many ifs and buts and what-ifs. It just was not
conclusive. We were insisting that we come to a unanimous verdict
and we deliberated among ourselves and arrived at what we think was
the right verdict."
The cause of death now legally lies in the hands of Jamaica's
director of public prosecutions, Kent Pantry. He has yet to say
whether he will make a determination.
Coroner Patrick Murphy, who presided over the inquiry, said that
another inquest was not possible.
Woolmer, 58, was found unconscious in his Kingston hotel room on
March 18, a day after Pakistan was defeated by cricket-minnow
Ireland, and was declared dead on arrival at hospital.
Chambermaid Bernice Robinson testified during the inquest that
she found a bloodied bed, an overturned chair and a smell like
alcohol and vomit when she stumbled on Woolmer's unconscious body
in the bathroom of his hotel room.
The inquest heard testimony from 57 witnesses and statements
from another 12 who did not attend, including the police officer
who led the investigation into the death, deputy police
commissioner Mark Shields.
He said that in his view Woolmer was very ill and died of
natural causes, an opinion was shared by pathologists from Canada,
Britain and South Africa, who had been called in to assist the
police investigation.
Shields, a former Scotland Yard officer, said after the jury's
open verdict he was relieved the inquest was over.
"The JCF (Jamaica Constabulary Force) did a most thorough
investigation. We interviewed over 400 people and collected over
200 witness statements, but ultimately it was left to the coroner
to decide and now this matter is over," Shields said.
However, the pathologist who performed the first autopsy on
Woolmer, Ere Shesiah, chief consultant pathologist of the Jamaican
government, told the inquest he stood by his conclusion that the
Englishman was strangled, and also poisoned with a pesticide.
(Agencies via China Daily November 30, 2007)