Kingston: A coroner's inquest into the death of cricket coach Bob Woolmer has ended after hearing testimony from more than 50 people over five weeks.

The 11-member jury is expected to determine by tomorrow whether any one bears responsibility for the death of the 58-year-old coach, who was found unconscious in his hotel room March 18, a day after his heavily favoured Pakistan side was ousted from the Cricket World Cup.

Police said it would be up to Jamaica's coroner, Patrick Murphy, to issue the official cause of death after the jury's verdict is announced. Days after Woolmer died at a hospital, Jamaica's pathologist, Dr Ere Sheshiah, ruled he had been strangled, launching a globe-spanning homicide probe.

In an embarrassing reversal, Jamaican police announced nearly three months after launching the murder investigation that Woolmer was not the victim of foul play.

During testimony early in the inquest, Sheshiah said Woolmer died of pesticide poisoning and asphyxia, but several foreign experts concluded the late coach died from natural causes, most likely heart disease.

The foreign specialists also claimed Sheshiah misinterpreted his own findings and his medical techniques did not meet international standards.
Independent tests recently completed on Woolmer's stomach samples found no traces of a potentially deadly pesticide, which a Jamaican analyst reported finding.

Source : PTI