Five witnesses testify on 13th day

Five witnesses testified into the death of former Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer on the 13th day of the coroner's inquest at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston.

Detective sergeant Devon Harris was on the stand the longest. Harris, who is assigned to the Scene of Crime Unit of the Jamaica constabulary force, was questioned for over three hours by director of public prosecutions Kent Pantry.

Harris' testimony was based around his collecting evidence from Room 374 at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel, where Woolmer was found unconscious on March 18. Woolmer, 58, was pronounced dead later that day at the University Hospital of the West Indies.

Harris said he took stomach and blood samples from Woolmer's body, a champagne bottle and two glasses to toxicologist Sharon Brydson at the Government Forensics Laboratory. He told the court that he found fingerprints on the smaller of the two glasses, but did not say if they belonged to Woolmer.

Government pathologist Ere Seshaiah, said Woolmer died from asphyxia due to manual strangulation associated with cypermethrin poisoning. This has been disputed by three overseas pathologists, who said Woolmer died from natural causes.

The boss of janitor Patricia Baker-Sinclair, who testified on Tuesday that she saw Woolmer and two men counting money in a changing room at Sabina Park on March 12, also took the stand. Baker-Sinclair went to the police after speaking with her boss, the inquest was told.

British forensics scientist, John Slaughter, André Miller, a duty manager at the Jamaica Pegasus, and Judine Murphy, an employee of Atlas Security Limited, also took the stand. Both were on duty on the day Woolmer's body was found. The inquest resumes on Monday.