Saturday, March 24, 2007

DNA samples taken from slain coach's team



From CNN's John Raedler
Adjust font size:
MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica (CNN) -- Jamaican police on Friday took DNA samples from the entire Pakistani contingent to the Cricket World Cup in their investigation into the strangulation of Pakistani coach Bob Woolmer earlier this week, a team spokesman said.
Pervez Mir said the DNA testing was supposed to have taken place Thursday, before the team left Kingston for Montego Bay, but police agreed to allow the tests to take place Friday so the team would not miss its flight.
A Jamaican government helicopter flew the test samples back to Kingston when they were processed, Mir said.
Before departing Kingston for Montego Bay on Thursday, all members of the Pakistani contingent -- players, managers and trainers -- gave statements to police and were fingerprinted.
Jamaican police announced Friday that they were treating the death of Woolmer, 58, as a homicide. He was found unconscious in his hotel room on Sunday and declared dead at a hospital soon afterward.
On Thursday, Deputy Police Commissioner Mark Shields urged anyone with any information about the case to come forward.
"It's a very busy hotel," he said. "I'm absolutely certain that someone saw something that could help us in this investigation."
Asked about suspects, Shields said only that "we have a few definite lines of inquiry."
Among those lines of inquiry, Shields later said, was betting on cricket matches and match fixing. (Watch what has emerged as a possible motive in Woolmer's murder )
Woolmer's death came only hours after Pakistan's shocking elimination from the Cricket World Cup competition by the relatively unknown Irish team on St. Patrick's Day.
Cricket officials have also begun an investigation into possible match fixing.
Woolmer's family said on Friday they were perplexed by his murder, dismissing reports the coach was involved with match fixing or that a book he wrote was behind his death.
"To the best the family's knowledge there is absolutely nothing to suggest Bob was involved in match fixing," his wife and sons said in a statement.
"Contrary to reports, they can confirm there is nothing in any book Bob had written that would explain this situation and there were no threats received," the statement said, read by Woolmer's manager Michael Cohen at the family home in Cape Town, South Africa.
Police refused to comment on a report by Mir that the walls and floor of the bathroom of Woolmer's room were spattered with blood, vomit and feces. (Watch Mir describe what he saw )
Pakistan's loss on Saturday prompted outrage among the team's hard-core fans. In the streets of Karachi -- before the news of Woolmer's death -- protesters burned effigies of Woolmer and the team captain.
Woolmer, who was English, played Test cricket for England in the mid-1970s. He coached the South African national team before taking over as Pakistan's coach in 2004.
On Friday, the ICC said the World Cup will continue despite calls for it to be suspended in the wake of Woolmer's death. (Full story)

No comments: