Jamaican expert Fitzmore Coates testified at the inquest into the death of ex-Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer that tests showed traces of potentially deadly pesticide cypermethrin.
Coates, the acting chief forensic officer at the Government Forensic Science Laboratory, said that two weeks ago he was asked to provide an toxicology analysis of the Woolmer’s stomach contents. He said 3,4 milligrams per millilitre of the deadly pesticide was found in the stomach.
”The final calculation of cypermethrin in the stomach content which I analysed would be significant. It could cause vomiting, diarrhea, nausea and death,” Coates said on Thursday.
Last month, government pathologist Dr Ere Sheshiah, who performed the post-mortem in Woolmer’s body, told the court the cause of death was ”asphyxia, associated with cypermethrin poisoning”.
Coates also testified that he found cypermethrin in samples of blood and urine taken from Woolmer. He said the substance was also seen in a straw-coloured liquid taken from his room at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel.
On Monday, coroner Patrick Murphy ordered that samples taken from the coach’s body be re-examined by an independent lab following a request from Deputy Commissioner of Police Mark Shields, a lead investigator in the Woolmer’s case.
Contrary to Jamaican and Barbadian experts findings, John Slaughter, a British forensic expert, testified on Monday that he found no pesticide in the sample which was tested in his lab on May 4.
Woolmer (58) was found unconscious in his Kingston hotel room on March 18.
Police started a murder investigation which ended on June 12 when Jamaica’s police commissioner, then Lucius Thomas said the constabulary would accept the opinion of three independent pathologists that Woolmer had died of natural causes. – Sapa-AFP