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Conflicting testimonies; Seshiah stands his ground
BY KARYL WALKER Sunday Observer staff reporter walkerk@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Nine days into the coroner's inquest into the death of former Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer, at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston, conflicting and interesting testimonies have been offered by four pathologists, a tissue sample expert, a world anti-doping official, a government forensic analyst and employees of the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel.
The highlight of Week Two was the three-day testimony of local consultant forensic pathologist, Dr Ere Seshiah, who performed the only autopsy conducted on Woolmer's remains.
Seshiah, despite coming in for harsh criticism, stood his ground and insisted that the coach had been murdered.
Foreign pathologists, Dr Nathaniel Cary, Dr Michael Pollanen and Professor Lorna Martin, had all declared that Seshiah had erred in his autopsy methods and reported that Woolmer died of natural causes.
Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room on March 18, hours after his team was eliminated from the Cricket World Cup after losing to underdogs Ireland.
Day 5 (Monday, October 22)
The week started with Dr Pollanen, chief forensic pathologist for the province of Ontario, Canada, providing a dramatic twist with his testimony that a toxic substance was present in Woolmer's system.
"Were you provided with a toxicology report?" Director of Public Prosecutions Kent 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.
"What are the symptoms if one were to take in such a substance?" Pantry asked.
"I think we are going into toxicologists' territory," Pollanen said.
"Oh, you can't answer," Pantry replied.
Pollanen's admission of a positive toxicological finding conflicted with the Jamaican police's announcement, 73 days after Woolmer was found on the bathroom floor of his hotel room, that the coach had died of natural causes.
"The toxicology tests have now been completed, Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas told journalists at a news conference at the Police Officers' Club in Kingston. "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."
The police high command had called the press conference after receiving reports from Pollanen; Cary, who is from England; and Professor Martin of South Africa. The three pathologists had been asked to give their assessment of the evidence and Dr 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 toxicologist, for testing.
Slaughter is expected to take the stand later in the inquest.
On Monday, 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.
Pollanen never missed the chance to lambast 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."
Elliot also said none of the police officers on the scene were in possession of surgical gloves.
DAY 6 (Tuesday, October 23)
Day six was highlighted by the testimony of Professor Lorna Martin, head of the Division of Forensic Science at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, who repeated her earlier recommendation that a review of tests conducted on samples from Woolmer's body be done to ascertain the real cause of death.
"The results of the histology, toxicology and x-ray should be reviewed to ascertain more clearly the cause of death, including the analysis of fluid found on the pillow and all fluids in the bathroom," Martin said.
Martin also offered what she described as her speculative view of how Woolmer met his end.
"At some point during the evening, Mr Woolmer got out of bed, knocked over the chair and ran to the bathroom to vomit. My speculation is that he collapsed and possibly carried on vomiting then suffered his cardiac event," Martin told the court.
Martin also testified that from her perusal of photographs she got from the Jamaican police, Woolmer's hyoid bone was not fractured as reported by Seshiah.
"From observation of the photograph of the hyoid bone, apparently removed a few days after, there did not appear to be a fracture," Martin said.
Pantry, however, got Martin to admit that it was still possible for strangulation to occur even if the hyoid bone was not fractured.
"Can you have manual strangulation without the hyoid bone being fractured?" Pantry asked.
"Yes you could," Martin replied.
Martin also testified that upon observing video and still photo evidence, she noticed genuine bruising to Woolmer's neck, tongue and nose.
She also said she signed an order for Woolmer's body to be cremated as at the time she had no reason to doubt Seshiah's findings.
Evidence was also given by Kingston Public Hospital radiographer Florette Skyers, who testified that she conducted the x-ray examination of Woolmer's hyoid bone and May 17 after meeting with four police officers on the premises of the hospital.
Day 7 (Wednesday, October 24)
Hours after police had announced the closure of their probe into Woolmer's death, Seshiah told the Jamaica Observer that he was sticking to his original findings that Woolmer had been murdered, despite the pronouncements of Pollanen, Cary and Martin to the contrary.
Seshiah remained defiant when he was called upon to give testimony on Wednesday.
The pathologist, however, slightly altered his final findings from asphyxia due to manual strangulation to asphyxia due to manual strangulation secondary to cypermethrin poisoning after it was revealed that toxins were present in Woolmer's system at the time of death.
"Is your finding of asphyxia secondary to manual strangulation the same?" Pantry asked Seshiah.
"No sir. The final opinion is asphyxiation secondary to manual strangulation associated with cypermethrin poisoning," Seshiah answered.
The doctor took the liberty to define cypermethrin for the court.
"Cypermethrin is an organo-chlorine pesticide and it is used widely in countries where cotton was grown. China, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Burma, the UK, USA and Pakistan also," he testified.
The chemical can be debilitating when mixed with alcohol, Seshiah stated.
"It would incapacitate when mixed with alcohol, which was already present in Mr Woolmer's body," Seshiah said.
The pathologist was in no mood to back down and hit back by criticising a report submitted by Cary.
"It is not correct. He has not given a final report up to now and he is awaiting a toxicology report to make his final report and his finding is not final," Seshiah said.
Seshiah also said he was side-stepped by local authorities who only gave him the results of the x-ray of Woolmer's hyoid bone after the results were handed over to the three overseas pathologists - Professor Martin, Dr Cary, and Dr Pollanen.
Despite testimonies by Cary, Pollanen and Martin, that Woolmer's bone was not fractured, Seshiah insisted that the bone was damaged.
Days after Woolmer was found dead, local police announced that Seshiah had found that Woolmer's death was inconclusive, before stating that his death was suspicious and finally declaring that he was strangled.
But Seshiah flatly denied using the words 'inconclusive' and 'suspicious'.
"Inconclusive is not my word, and I only told them pending, that is my word. I wrote in my observation 'pending' in red ink. This was also photographed by police," Seshiah testified.
"Did you ever use the word suspicious?" Pantry asked.
"No sir, that is not my word," Seshiah answered.
Day 8 (Thursday, October 25)
For the second day running, Seshiah took the witness stand but this time it was to stern cross-examination by International Cricket Council attorney Jermaine Spence, who sharply criticised Seshiah for not adhering to international procedures governing pathology.
Spence was especially scathing in his criticism of the method Seshiah used to dissect Woolmer's neck and his removal of the coach's hyoid bone.
"It seems all three experts are disagreeing with the way you proceeded," Spence put to the pathologist.
Seshiah, however, stood his ground.
"It is their opinion, but despite what they say I stand by my view," Seshiah replied.
"Is it true that in the medical profession, a preponderance of opinion in any matter carries much weight?" Spence asked.
"That is a bizarre question without reference to a particular point. What I say is also dependent on my findings and opinion," Seshiah responded.
"Does that mean, Dr Seshiah, that if most pathologists say a thing must be done one way, would you depart from it?" Spence queried.
"Every pathologist has their own method," Seshiah said. "I will take a slight deviation, but not deviate totally."
Video footage of Seshiah's extraction of Woolmer's hyoid bone was shown in court and Spence pointed to what he described as flaws in the pathologist's technique.
"With respect to your observation of the hyoid bone, isn't it true that you failed to remove a number of the surrounding muscles?" Spence asked.
"I cut the muscles surrounding the hyoid bone to observe the bone and when I was giving it to the police to do the X-ray I did the final dissection," Seshiah replied.
At times Seshiah seemed upset at Spence's line of questioning and raised his voice on at least one occasion.
Earlier, the pathologist hit back at the three overseas-based experts - Martin, Pollanen and Cary - who were all critical of his finding that Woolmer died of asphyxia due to manual strangulation.
He insisted that he had been the one to conduct the autopsy on Woolmer's body and was in the best position to declare a cause of death.
"The theory of a fall put forward by Dr Pollanen to explain the bruising on the neck fails to explain how Mr Woolmer had injuries on the nose and ear and his opinion is not final," Seshiah testified. "When it is not final we cannot take that into consideration."
He was also critical of Martin.
"It is customary to withhold cremation or at least make a personal verification to ascertain the post-mortem findings. Dr Martin has done neither and allowed the body to get cremated thus completely destroying the evidence," Seshiah said.
Seshiah stoutly defended his integrity as he again insisted that Woolmer was killed as he could not have fallen and wedged his head between the bath tub and an overturned dust bin.
"In my opinion, it is not possible for the deceased to put himself in such a position as observed on [the] photographs," he said. "This definitely speaks to the presence of a third party. It is a known fact that in many cases of manual strangulation there need not be any external evidence of assault."
Seshiah also testified that wounds on the bridge of Woolmer's nose and ear were fingernail marks and were inflicted during a struggle.
Day 9 (Friday, October 26)
Week Two ended with a confirmation by Marcia Dunbar, a government analyst who works at the Forensics Science Laboratory, that a toxic substance was present in Woolmer's body at the time of his death.
Dunbar testified that she had been given blood, urine, stomach contents, anal swabs, vomit, faecal matter, fingernail samples and two liquids for examination and analysis.
The insecticide Cypermethrin was found in Woolmer's blood sample, urine and the two liquids, Dunbar told the inquest.
"Examination and analysis performed on extracts from exhibit A-4, the straw-coloured liquid, revealed the presence of cypermethrin, which is an organo-chloride and ethyl alcohol," Dunbar said.
Ethyl alcohol is a flammable, colourless, slightly toxic chemical compound.
Dunbar also testified that the insecticide and alcohol were found in a glass of water taken from a night table in Woolmer's room, in his urine and in a pipe which runs under the face basin in the hotel bathroom where he was found dead.
Alcohol levels present in the late coach's body were below the legal limit allowed for driving and could cause someone to speak with slurred speech.
She said tests had also revealed traces of a sedative known as chlorpromazine in Woolmer's stomach, but ruled out any foul play as officials had blundered.
"It is my opinion that this would have been caused by contamination in that the container in which the stomach contents were received had a label marked chlorpromazine," Dunbar testified.
However, she said tests she conducted on other samples revealed that there was no presence of dangerous drugs or toxic substances.
A champagne bottle found in the ill-fated bathroom had only one drop of liquid, and tests came up empty as the amount of alcohol was too small to yield any meaningful results.
She said the samples which tested positive for toxins were packaged and handed over to Detective Superintendent John Sweeney, who took them back to England for toxicologist Dr John Slaughter to conduct a second round of tests.
Under re-examination by attorney representing the International Cricket Council, Jermaine Spence, Dunbar said she was not aware of the results of the tests carried out by Slaughter.
"Would you be surprised to know that they were tested and no cypermethrin found?" Spence asked.
"Yes, I would be surprised," Dunbar answered.
Evidence was also given by Sergeant Horace Lattibeudiere, who took Woolmer's hyoid bone to the Kingston Public Hospital to be X-rayed; Constable Camille Haughton of the Major Investigation Task Force; and Detective Constable Lawrence Robinson, who photographed Woolmer's room on behalf of the police.
Dr Seshiah was expected to begin his third day of testimony but his appearance was postponed due a prearranged doctor's appointment.
The inquest continues tomorrow when Seshiah is expected to resume his marathon run on the witness stand.
Dr Slaughter is also expected to give evidence of his findings this week.
BY KARYL WALKER Sunday Observer staff reporter walkerk@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Nine days into the coroner's inquest into the death of former Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer, at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston, conflicting and interesting testimonies have been offered by four pathologists, a tissue sample expert, a world anti-doping official, a government forensic analyst and employees of the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel.
The highlight of Week Two was the three-day testimony of local consultant forensic pathologist, Dr Ere Seshiah, who performed the only autopsy conducted on Woolmer's remains.
Seshiah, despite coming in for harsh criticism, stood his ground and insisted that the coach had been murdered.
Foreign pathologists, Dr Nathaniel Cary, Dr Michael Pollanen and Professor Lorna Martin, had all declared that Seshiah had erred in his autopsy methods and reported that Woolmer died of natural causes.
Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room on March 18, hours after his team was eliminated from the Cricket World Cup after losing to underdogs Ireland.
Day 5 (Monday, October 22)
The week started with Dr Pollanen, chief forensic pathologist for the province of Ontario, Canada, providing a dramatic twist with his testimony that a toxic substance was present in Woolmer's system.
"Were you provided with a toxicology report?" Director of Public Prosecutions Kent 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.
"What are the symptoms if one were to take in such a substance?" Pantry asked.
"I think we are going into toxicologists' territory," Pollanen said.
"Oh, you can't answer," Pantry replied.
Pollanen's admission of a positive toxicological finding conflicted with the Jamaican police's announcement, 73 days after Woolmer was found on the bathroom floor of his hotel room, that the coach had died of natural causes.
"The toxicology tests have now been completed, Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas told journalists at a news conference at the Police Officers' Club in Kingston. "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."
The police high command had called the press conference after receiving reports from Pollanen; Cary, who is from England; and Professor Martin of South Africa. The three pathologists had been asked to give their assessment of the evidence and Dr 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 toxicologist, for testing.
Slaughter is expected to take the stand later in the inquest.
On Monday, 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.
Pollanen never missed the chance to lambast 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."
Elliot also said none of the police officers on the scene were in possession of surgical gloves.
DAY 6 (Tuesday, October 23)
Day six was highlighted by the testimony of Professor Lorna Martin, head of the Division of Forensic Science at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, who repeated her earlier recommendation that a review of tests conducted on samples from Woolmer's body be done to ascertain the real cause of death.
"The results of the histology, toxicology and x-ray should be reviewed to ascertain more clearly the cause of death, including the analysis of fluid found on the pillow and all fluids in the bathroom," Martin said.
Martin also offered what she described as her speculative view of how Woolmer met his end.
"At some point during the evening, Mr Woolmer got out of bed, knocked over the chair and ran to the bathroom to vomit. My speculation is that he collapsed and possibly carried on vomiting then suffered his cardiac event," Martin told the court.
Martin also testified that from her perusal of photographs she got from the Jamaican police, Woolmer's hyoid bone was not fractured as reported by Seshiah.
"From observation of the photograph of the hyoid bone, apparently removed a few days after, there did not appear to be a fracture," Martin said.
Pantry, however, got Martin to admit that it was still possible for strangulation to occur even if the hyoid bone was not fractured.
"Can you have manual strangulation without the hyoid bone being fractured?" Pantry asked.
"Yes you could," Martin replied.
Martin also testified that upon observing video and still photo evidence, she noticed genuine bruising to Woolmer's neck, tongue and nose.
She also said she signed an order for Woolmer's body to be cremated as at the time she had no reason to doubt Seshiah's findings.
Evidence was also given by Kingston Public Hospital radiographer Florette Skyers, who testified that she conducted the x-ray examination of Woolmer's hyoid bone and May 17 after meeting with four police officers on the premises of the hospital.
Day 7 (Wednesday, October 24)
Hours after police had announced the closure of their probe into Woolmer's death, Seshiah told the Jamaica Observer that he was sticking to his original findings that Woolmer had been murdered, despite the pronouncements of Pollanen, Cary and Martin to the contrary.
Seshiah remained defiant when he was called upon to give testimony on Wednesday.
The pathologist, however, slightly altered his final findings from asphyxia due to manual strangulation to asphyxia due to manual strangulation secondary to cypermethrin poisoning after it was revealed that toxins were present in Woolmer's system at the time of death.
"Is your finding of asphyxia secondary to manual strangulation the same?" Pantry asked Seshiah.
"No sir. The final opinion is asphyxiation secondary to manual strangulation associated with cypermethrin poisoning," Seshiah answered.
The doctor took the liberty to define cypermethrin for the court.
"Cypermethrin is an organo-chlorine pesticide and it is used widely in countries where cotton was grown. China, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Burma, the UK, USA and Pakistan also," he testified.
The chemical can be debilitating when mixed with alcohol, Seshiah stated.
"It would incapacitate when mixed with alcohol, which was already present in Mr Woolmer's body," Seshiah said.
The pathologist was in no mood to back down and hit back by criticising a report submitted by Cary.
"It is not correct. He has not given a final report up to now and he is awaiting a toxicology report to make his final report and his finding is not final," Seshiah said.
Seshiah also said he was side-stepped by local authorities who only gave him the results of the x-ray of Woolmer's hyoid bone after the results were handed over to the three overseas pathologists - Professor Martin, Dr Cary, and Dr Pollanen.
Despite testimonies by Cary, Pollanen and Martin, that Woolmer's bone was not fractured, Seshiah insisted that the bone was damaged.
Days after Woolmer was found dead, local police announced that Seshiah had found that Woolmer's death was inconclusive, before stating that his death was suspicious and finally declaring that he was strangled.
But Seshiah flatly denied using the words 'inconclusive' and 'suspicious'.
"Inconclusive is not my word, and I only told them pending, that is my word. I wrote in my observation 'pending' in red ink. This was also photographed by police," Seshiah testified.
"Did you ever use the word suspicious?" Pantry asked.
"No sir, that is not my word," Seshiah answered.
Day 8 (Thursday, October 25)
For the second day running, Seshiah took the witness stand but this time it was to stern cross-examination by International Cricket Council attorney Jermaine Spence, who sharply criticised Seshiah for not adhering to international procedures governing pathology.
Spence was especially scathing in his criticism of the method Seshiah used to dissect Woolmer's neck and his removal of the coach's hyoid bone.
"It seems all three experts are disagreeing with the way you proceeded," Spence put to the pathologist.
Seshiah, however, stood his ground.
"It is their opinion, but despite what they say I stand by my view," Seshiah replied.
"Is it true that in the medical profession, a preponderance of opinion in any matter carries much weight?" Spence asked.
"That is a bizarre question without reference to a particular point. What I say is also dependent on my findings and opinion," Seshiah responded.
"Does that mean, Dr Seshiah, that if most pathologists say a thing must be done one way, would you depart from it?" Spence queried.
"Every pathologist has their own method," Seshiah said. "I will take a slight deviation, but not deviate totally."
Video footage of Seshiah's extraction of Woolmer's hyoid bone was shown in court and Spence pointed to what he described as flaws in the pathologist's technique.
"With respect to your observation of the hyoid bone, isn't it true that you failed to remove a number of the surrounding muscles?" Spence asked.
"I cut the muscles surrounding the hyoid bone to observe the bone and when I was giving it to the police to do the X-ray I did the final dissection," Seshiah replied.
At times Seshiah seemed upset at Spence's line of questioning and raised his voice on at least one occasion.
Earlier, the pathologist hit back at the three overseas-based experts - Martin, Pollanen and Cary - who were all critical of his finding that Woolmer died of asphyxia due to manual strangulation.
He insisted that he had been the one to conduct the autopsy on Woolmer's body and was in the best position to declare a cause of death.
"The theory of a fall put forward by Dr Pollanen to explain the bruising on the neck fails to explain how Mr Woolmer had injuries on the nose and ear and his opinion is not final," Seshiah testified. "When it is not final we cannot take that into consideration."
He was also critical of Martin.
"It is customary to withhold cremation or at least make a personal verification to ascertain the post-mortem findings. Dr Martin has done neither and allowed the body to get cremated thus completely destroying the evidence," Seshiah said.
Seshiah stoutly defended his integrity as he again insisted that Woolmer was killed as he could not have fallen and wedged his head between the bath tub and an overturned dust bin.
"In my opinion, it is not possible for the deceased to put himself in such a position as observed on [the] photographs," he said. "This definitely speaks to the presence of a third party. It is a known fact that in many cases of manual strangulation there need not be any external evidence of assault."
Seshiah also testified that wounds on the bridge of Woolmer's nose and ear were fingernail marks and were inflicted during a struggle.
Day 9 (Friday, October 26)
Week Two ended with a confirmation by Marcia Dunbar, a government analyst who works at the Forensics Science Laboratory, that a toxic substance was present in Woolmer's body at the time of his death.
Dunbar testified that she had been given blood, urine, stomach contents, anal swabs, vomit, faecal matter, fingernail samples and two liquids for examination and analysis.
The insecticide Cypermethrin was found in Woolmer's blood sample, urine and the two liquids, Dunbar told the inquest.
"Examination and analysis performed on extracts from exhibit A-4, the straw-coloured liquid, revealed the presence of cypermethrin, which is an organo-chloride and ethyl alcohol," Dunbar said.
Ethyl alcohol is a flammable, colourless, slightly toxic chemical compound.
Dunbar also testified that the insecticide and alcohol were found in a glass of water taken from a night table in Woolmer's room, in his urine and in a pipe which runs under the face basin in the hotel bathroom where he was found dead.
Alcohol levels present in the late coach's body were below the legal limit allowed for driving and could cause someone to speak with slurred speech.
She said tests had also revealed traces of a sedative known as chlorpromazine in Woolmer's stomach, but ruled out any foul play as officials had blundered.
"It is my opinion that this would have been caused by contamination in that the container in which the stomach contents were received had a label marked chlorpromazine," Dunbar testified.
However, she said tests she conducted on other samples revealed that there was no presence of dangerous drugs or toxic substances.
A champagne bottle found in the ill-fated bathroom had only one drop of liquid, and tests came up empty as the amount of alcohol was too small to yield any meaningful results.
She said the samples which tested positive for toxins were packaged and handed over to Detective Superintendent John Sweeney, who took them back to England for toxicologist Dr John Slaughter to conduct a second round of tests.
Under re-examination by attorney representing the International Cricket Council, Jermaine Spence, Dunbar said she was not aware of the results of the tests carried out by Slaughter.
"Would you be surprised to know that they were tested and no cypermethrin found?" Spence asked.
"Yes, I would be surprised," Dunbar answered.
Evidence was also given by Sergeant Horace Lattibeudiere, who took Woolmer's hyoid bone to the Kingston Public Hospital to be X-rayed; Constable Camille Haughton of the Major Investigation Task Force; and Detective Constable Lawrence Robinson, who photographed Woolmer's room on behalf of the police.
Dr Seshiah was expected to begin his third day of testimony but his appearance was postponed due a prearranged doctor's appointment.
The inquest continues tomorrow when Seshiah is expected to resume his marathon run on the witness stand.
Dr Slaughter is also expected to give evidence of his findings this week.