The Cricket World Cup was thrown into intense gloom again last evening when the Jamaica police confirmed that Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was murdered.
At a packed media conference last evening, a statement from the Jamaica Commissioner of Police revealed that Woolmer was manually strangled, a revelation which the country’s media had reported almost 24 hours earlier.
Woolmer, who was found dead in room 12 last Sunday morning, was a victim of asphyxia.
It took the Jamaica Police Force five days to make the announcement which, according to the statement, was done after the post mortem examination results were concluded. It was after officials told the media the initial autopsy results were inconclusive and updated their findings to a suspicious death in two media briefings on Wednesday.
And it seems they are nowhere near apprehending the perpetrators of the most heinous act committed during a cricket competition. Deputy Commssioner of Police Mark Shields said they were continuing investigations and did not have any suspects in mind.
All members of the Pakistan team were questioned yesterday and were not considered suspects, according to the officer.
He confirmed that vomit and evidence of diarrhoea were found in the room during the discovery of the 58-year-old Indian-born coach. However, no external marks of violence were visible, the Deputy Commissioner added.
Shields, an English policeman specially employed by the Jamaica Government, was reduced to making strident appeals for information to help in the investigation.
He disclosed that Woolmer may have been killed by one person or persons known to him as there were no signs of forced entry to the room, adding that Woolmer’s wife Gill, was grieving but was holding up well after being informed of the nature of her husband’s death.
International Cricket Council (ICC) Chief Executive Officer (ICC) Malcolm Speed was present at the briefing and dryly stated that the World Cup would go on as planned, without displaying much emotion. He extended condolences to Woolmer’s wife and family.
Speed added that it was a time of extreme sadness and the ICC would assist the Jamaica police with their investigations. The plot in the case had swung dramatically earlier in the day when the Pakistan players were detained for questioning and finger printing, thus delaying their trip to Montego Bay, from where they will fly home after being eliminated from the competition. Jamaica’s Prime Minister Portia Simpson made the decision to remove the players from their original base in Kingston, to the island’s North Coast to avert the intense attention they received.
Shields quizzed the players for one hour in the basement of the hotel, before they reportedly left through a back entrance.
Reports said that some were upset at the action of the police, with one stating they were made to feel like suspects.
Shields, who has taken over as the spearhead of the investigation, said the players all co-operated and statements were taken. The local media had created a storm on Thursday when reports were made that Woolmer was strangled. The two daily newspapers The Gleaner and Observer both carried banner front page headlines after TVJ one of the two main television stations first reported his murder on Wednesday.
However, at the time Shields quashed the reports stating that the police had no evidence of homicide.
The Gleaner based its report on a police source which said marks of strangulation were found on the coach’s neck.
