Twists in Woolmer probe irksome

AP

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PORT–AU–PRINCE, Haiti (AP) – Was World Cup cricket coach Bob Woolmer murdered in Jamaica after his Pakistani team’s stunning loss, or did he just keel over from natural causes? Every day brings a different – and often conflicting – headline.

Media reports in Jamaica and abroad have had more twists and turns than a wickedly spun ball, embarrassing some Jamaicans even as the chief investigator resolutely plows ahead with the biggest homicide probe of his career.

British and Jamaican media reported this week that sources in Britain, which is assisting in the investigation, have concluded the Englishman died of natural causes – not from strangulation as Jamaican authorities have asserted. But, adding to the confusion, the media has also reported in unsourced reports that Woolmer was poisoned or drugged.

Mark Shields, a former Scotland Yard investigator and Jamaica’s top cop on the case, is pleading for patience.

"Please give us more time. As I have said from day one, we will be keeping an open mind and looking at all angles," Shields was quoted as saying Tuesday in the Jamaica Observer newspaper.

Shields, who was brought over to the Caribbean island from Britain over a year ago to reverse a skyrocketing homicide rate, blamed conflicting information on the media.

"Every theory, from weed killer to aconite (a poisonous herb), has come from the media, not the police. We maintain that this is an ongoing murder investigation," he said from Cape Town, South Africa, where he was to meet with Woolmer’s widow.

Woolmer, 58, was found unconscious in his Kingston hotel room on March 18 and later pronounced dead, a day after his team’s upset loss to Ireland in the World Cup, cricket’s most prestigious tournament.

A Jamaican pathologist initially called the cause of death inconclusive but four days later ruled Woolmer died from asphyxiation from manual strangulation. That set in motion one of the biggest – and most scrutinized – homicide investigations in the Caribbean island’s history.

"The matter has become a global embarrassment for us," Derrick Smith of the opposition Jamaica Labor Party said Monday.

Speculation initially focused on whether the death was linked to match–fixing. The frenzy grew amid media reports that Woolmer had been poisoned or drugged before being strangled – a claim police have refused to confirm or deny.

The Times of London reported Monday that a British government pathologist, Nat Carey, concluded Woolmer was not strangled after reviewing evidence, including autopsy reports, on behalf of Jamaican authorities.

A day earlier, the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper reported that British investigators believe Woolmer died of heart failure from natural causes.

In an editorial Tuesday, the paper called the Jamaican police probe a "farcical soap opera" that "makes Jamaica’s constabulary appear a bunch of incompetent boobs."

Some Jamaicans say Woolmer’s case has received an unfair amount of attention compared to Jamaican victims. The former British colony of 2.6 million has one of the world’s highest murder rates, with an average of more an 1,000 homicides per year, few of which are solved.

"We would like this amount of attention to be paid to ordinary Jamaicans when they are killed," said Carolyn Gomes of the Kingston–based human rights group Jamaicans for Justice.

Jamaican officials say the case has not impacted tourism, the island’s chief source of foreign income.

"The story hasn’t affected our business whatsoever and I’d like to keep it that way," said Horace Peterkin, president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association.