... police sticking by their word that Woolmer died of manual strangulation ...
June 13, 2007
# CASE FACTS World number-four ranked Pakistan crashed out of the ICC Cricket World Cup after losing to minnows Ireland at Sabina Park on March 17.
# Bob Woolmer said he was devastated by the loss.
# Retired to his hotel room about 7:00 p.m. and ordered room service between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. on March 17.
# Found unconscious in room 374, 12th floor of the Jamaica Pegasus hotel at 10:45 a.m. on March 18 by a chambermaid.
# Post-mortem conducted by Dr. Ere Sheshiah, on March 20, found that the death was due to asphyxiation by manual strangulation.
# Murder investigation launched on March 22.
# Coroner's inquest announced on March 23.
# On April 14, Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) said toxicology results on Mr. Woolmer's tissue sample needed further analysis.
# The coroner's inquest, which was set to start on April 23, was postponed indefinitely, on April 19, because of what the JCF called new evidence that had emerged.
# On June 12, the JCF announce that Mr. Woolmer had not been murdered.
EXCERPTS FROM THE PATHOLoGY REPORTS
# Dr. Michael Pollanen - Chief forensic pathologist, canada .... There is no satisfactory evidence to conclude that Mr. Woolmer was strangled. Furthermore, the absence of certain specific findings is satisfactory evidence to exclude strangulation as the cause of death.
However, it is clear that there is one bruise in the central neck, which is only visible once the skin is incised and elevated. This bruise has little mediocolegal significance in isolation. It is likely related to terminal collapse or falling in the hotel room in the period before death.
Dr. Nat Cary - Consultant forensic pathologist, united kingdom
# My opinion, based on the scene and post-mortem findings, is that it is very unlikely that the deceased died from the cause of death given, namely, "asphyxia secondary to manual strangulation".
There is of course an obvious competing alternative cause of death present in this case, namely 'ischaemic heart disease'.
Anyone with a heart of this size with coronary artery occlusions and microscopic evidence of scarring in the heart muscle would have been vulnerable to development of a heart rhythm disturbance, including a potentially fatal one. Sometimes, such heart rhythm disturbances, ultimately culminating in sudden death, cause an initial state of acute medical illness where there may bevomiting or falling there may have been some other cause for vomiting, including food poisoning or some toxicological cause. The stress of such vomiting and illness due to some other cause in someone with such severe ischaemic heart disease could well act as a trigger for the development of an ultimately fatal heart rhythm disturbance. Another possibility for the deceased's apparent acute medical difficulties at the scene would be due to complications of alcohol intoxication and/or diabetes that he is reported to suffer from....
Author: Gleaner Reporter
Source: Jamaica Gleaner
