KINGSTON, Jamaica, 23 March 2007 — Pakistan’s World Cup players gave statements to Jamaican police yesterday as the investigation into the death of Bob Woolmer became embroiled in a fevered round of speculation and denial.
The questioning came on the same day that two Jamaican newspapers claimed that 58-year-old Woolmer, who died Sunday, had been strangled.
That alleged cause of death follows earlier rumors of poisoning and even killing at the hands of members of the criminal underworld keen to avoid exposure in allegations of match-fixing which may have arisen in a book that Woolmer was planning to write.
“We’re going through a process of speaking to people, including members of the team,” said Mark Shields, the deputy chief commissioner of Jamaican police.
Pakistan team spokesman Pervez Mir confirmed the probe had been extended to the players, saying that police were trying to ascertain Woolmer’s last movements and stressing that no cautions had been issued.
The police asked the Pakistani players “when did you last see Bob, what were his last movements, what happened after the game... did he order anything in his room?” Mir said.
The cricketers were finger printed and interviewed. Team manager Talat Ali held up his hands to show ink on his fingers as he left a room where players and team officials were finger printed by police. A bus, which had been scheduled to take the players to airport at Kingston for a flight to Montego Bay at 1 p.m. local time, was still idling outside.
Armed police were stationed inside and outside the Kingston Hotel where the team was staying, and where Woolmer was found unconscious by cleaning staff.
The Jamaica Gleaner said a “high-ranking police officer” had confirmed that fresh evidence has surfaced that suggested that Woolmer was strangled in his hotel room between Saturday night and Sunday morning.
According to the police officer, Woolmer was found half naked in his room, partially wrapped in a towel, the newspaper said.
“A bone in the neck, near the glands, was broken, and this suggests that somebody might have put some pressure on it,” the officer told the newspaper. “We are now treating this as a homicide.”
The Jamaica Observer also quoted unnamed sources close to the investigation as saying that bones in the lower part of Woolmer’s face were broken, suggesting he had been strangled.
Mir dismissed the suggestions, and also speculation over a link with match-fixing as “totally baseless and premature.”
“I’m afraid I cannot count these as accurate because the Jamaican police force hasn’t given us official information as to what were the causes of Bob’s death,” Mir said.
“I hope the police come up with a statement and some answers as soon as possible,” he said, calling on people to be “considerate and sensitive.”
Investigators have called in an American pathologist to help determine the cause of death. An initial autopsy was inconclusive. Shields did not identify the pathologist.
Woolmer’s widow Gill admitted that there was a “possibility” her husband was murdered. In an interview with Britain’s Sky News television from her home in South Africa, she said: “I suppose there is always the possibility.
“I mean some of the cricketing fraternity, fans are extremely volatile and passionate about the game and what happens in the game, and also a lot of it in Asia. So I suppose there is always the possibility that it could be that (murder).
“It fills me with horror. I just can’t believe that people would behave like that or that anyone would want to harm someone who has done such a great service to international cricket.”
She said that she was waiting for the results of a second pathologist’s report before her husband’s body could be flown home to South Africa. “They have given me some indication of why they think it’s suspicious but I’m not prepared to say what,” she said.
