Woolmer mystery deepens
Tuesday, March 20, 2007 12:00:14 pm
Top sources close to the investigation in to the death of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer have told TIMES NOW that Jamaica's top sleuthing unit has been pressed into probing the case.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mark Shields has gone on record to say that the overdose angle is being looked at very closely and that the police are treating Woolmer's sudden death as a homicide.
Shields said that Woolmer had received death threats from Pakistani fans and there was plenty of motivation for a crazed fan to perhaps physically harm Woolmer. Sources close to the probe have said the police is questioning persons who met with Woolmer before his death.
Woolmer retired to his room at 7:00 that evening and did not have dinner with the team.
Sources said that the police was probing why it took one hour to get Woolmer to hospital when the hospital was only 15 minutes away by car.
According to sources, the walls of Woolmer’s room were covered in vomit, blood stains were detected in the bathroom and police discovered signs of diarrhoea, leading investigators to believe that Woolmer may have struggled in his last moments in the hotel room.
Reports suggest that Woolmer died of an "accidental prescribed drug and alcohol overdose'', which coupled with deep stress caused by Pakistan's ouster from the World Cup created a lethal combination for him.
Dr. Anil Aggarwal, Professor of Forensic Medicine at Maulana Azad Medical College concedes that it could have been a cardiac arrest but the presence of vomit and blood makes it suspicious. He believes this could be a case of poisoning and of arsenic trioxide and strychnine.
Meanwhile, accepting moral responsibility for the team's shocking early elimination from the World Cup, Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Naseem Ashraf has offered his resignation.
According to PCB sources, Ashraf has submitted his resignation on Monday (March 19) to President General Pervez Musharraf, who is also the chief patron of the board. His resignation is yet to be accepted.