Jamaican Cabinet official calls death investigation decision 'hasty'

By Howard Campbell

CRICKET: KINGSTON, Jamaica, Nov 10 - Police may have spoken prematurely when they declared Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was murdered in his hotel room during the Cricket World Cup, Jamaica's top security official testified on Friday.

"From what I have seen, they may have done things too hastily," Security Minister Derrick Smith told a coroner's inquest. He said he based that conclusion on an unreleased government report on the investigation into the death of Woolmer.

The Englishman was found unconscious in a Kingston hotel room on March 18, a day after his Pakistan team was ousted by Ireland. Four days later a government pathologist ruled he had been strangled, launching an international murder probe.

But several foreign experts later concluded that Woolmer died from natural causes, most likely heart disease, and in an embarrassing reversal, Jamaican police said on June 12 that Woolmer was not strangled.

Jamaica's pathologist maintains that he died of asphyxia and pesticide poisoning.

A forensic scientist recently testified that he found lethal amounts of cypermethrin in Woolmer's stomach samples, contradicting foreign experts who also analyzed samples and found no pesticide.

Coroner Patrick Murphy, who is presiding over the inquest, has ordered the samples re-examined.

Also on Friday, former team fitness trainer Murray Stevenson testified that Woolmer told him he might retire because of the loss to Ireland and would delay his return to Pakistan until his disappointment faded.

- AP