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Dr Michael Pollanen (right), chief forensic pathologist for the province of Ontario, Canada, is escorted by a policeman as he leaves the Jamaica Conference Centre yesterday after giving evidence in the coroner's inquest into the death of Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)The Bob Woolmer inquest took a dramatic twist yesterday when an overseas pathologist, whose assessment of the evidence the Jamaican police had used to conclude that the cricket coach had died of natural causes, testified that a toxic substance was, in fact, present in his system.
Dr Michael Pollanen, chief forensic pathologist for the province of Ontario, Canada, made the revelation while being questioned by Director of Public Prosecutions Kent Pantry.
"Were you provided with a toxicology report?" Pantry asked.
"No," Pollanen replied.
"Were you informed that poison was in Bob Woolmer's stomach contents?" Pantry continued.
"No, I am aware that there is a positive toxicological finding, but I am not aware of the details," Pollanen replied. "A foreign substance or toxin was detected."
"Are you aware of a substance called cypermethrin?" Pantry asked.
"I am aware of the general class. It is an insecticide," Pollanen answered.
"If you had ingested a substance such as cypermethrin, could it weaken your body?" Pantry continued.
"Yes, it could," Pollanen said.
Dr Pollanen's revelation is in sharp contrast to Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas's announcement on June 12 when the police announced that they had closed the file on the Woolmer investigation, 73 days after Woolmer was found dead in his room at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel.
"The toxicology tests have now been completed. No substance was found to indicate that Bob Woolmer was poisoned or in any other way incapacitated. The Jamaica Constabulary Force accepts these findings and has now closed its investigation into the death of Mr Woolmer," Thomas said during a press conference at the Police Officers' Club in Kingston.
The police high command called the press conference after receiving reports from Pollanen, Dr Nathaniel Cary of England and Professor Lorna Martin of South Africa. The three pathologists had been asked to give their assessment of the evidence and Dr Ere Seshiah's final report that Woolmer had died of asphyxia due to manual strangulation.
The toxicology samples taken from Woolmer's body were sent to the Government Forensic Laboratory and overseas to Dr John Slaughter, a British-based pathologist, for testing.
Slaughter is expected to take the stand later in the inquest.
Yesterday, Pollanen pointed out that he did not declare that Woolmer died of natural causes when he filed his report.
"I said at the time, I do not feel I am able to give an opinion as to the cause of death," Pollanen told the inquest.
However, Pollanen ruled out the possibility that Woolmer died from a heart condition.
Like Cary, Pollanen was also critical of the methods used by Dr Seshiah in dissecting Woolmer's neck.
"The neck injury is isolated. It's difficult to be entirely certain how the injury was formed," Pollanen testified. "The autopsy findings themselves do not inform us how the injury occurred."
Testimony was also offered by Dr Herb Elliot, a member of the International Amateur Athletics Federation's Medical and Anti-doping Commission.
Elliot testified that he arrived at the ill-fated room 374 after Woolmer's body was removed. After examining the room and getting word that Woolmer was pronounced dead at hospital, he said he ordered that the room be sealed off.
"I asked that the door be closed as it was now a crime scene," Elliot said. "Soon after that, Deputy Commissioner Mark Shields arrived and wanted to go into the room and as a medical officer I told him he couldn't."
The inquest is expected to continue today when three police officers are expected to give evidence.
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