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British coroner tells Jamaica inquest:
Woolmer died from heart disease
Howard Campbell
Heart disease was the likely culprit in the death of Pakistan coach
Bob Woolmer during last spring’s Cricket World Cup, a British
pathologist said Wednesday.
The enlarged condition of Woolmer’s heart, the fluid in his lungs and
blood on his pillow were all signs of a death from natural causes, Dr.
Nathaniel Cary, told a jury on the second day of an inquest convened to
determine what killed Woolmer.
Cary examined photos of the coach’s body as part of a global
investigation sparked by a Jamaican’s pathologist’s conclusion that
Woolmer, 58, had been strangled in Kingston’s downtown Pegasus Hotel.
But the British expert said he saw no signs of foul play.
“Forget Bob Woolmer, forget the Pegasus,” he said. “If this was a
routine autopsy, I would account IHD (ischaemic heart disease) as the
cause of death.”
Woolmer, a highly regarded coach and former player from South Africa,
died March 18, a day after his team was eliminated from the World Cup in
an upset loss to Ireland.
Jamaican police announced four days later that Woolmer had been
strangled.
Authorities closed the homicide case nearly three months later after
pathologists in Britain, South Africa and Canada concluded the coach
died from natural causes.
Cary, a consultant to Britain’s Metropolitan Police and other
agencies, is one of about 50 witnesses expected to testify in the
inquest to formally determine the cause of death.
The exchanges between Cary and Kent Pantry, director of public
prosecutions, were testy at times.
Pantry asked if it were possible Woolmer was strangled with a pillow,
a suggestion the pathologist dismissed as “foolish” and impossible.
“I would like you not to regard my questions as foolish,” the
prosecutor responded. “I have shown you courtesy and I would like you to
show me the same.”
Testifying Tuesday, the first witness, a hotel maid, described
finding Woolmer’s body sprawled on a blood-spattered bathroom floor on
March 18, with an overturned chair in the room and blood on a pillow on
the unmade bed.
The inquest is scheduled to run through Nov. 9 at the Jamaica
Conference Centre in Kingston.
KINGSTON, Jamaica, Thursday (AP) |
