Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

DR. ERE Seshaiah, the Government pathologist whose revelation that Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer was murdered, again defended his controversial analysis on the 10th day of the coroner's inquest at the Jamaica Conference Centre.

The diminutive, India-born Seshaiah was making his third appearance at the inquest. For most of his three hours on the stand, he faced intense questioning from Jermaine Spence, the attorney representing the International Cricket Council.

After challenging Dr. Seshaiah's post-mortem methods, Mr. Spence said the India-born doctor's findings were not reliable. Dr. Seshaiah, who appeared flustered at times, did not waver.

"I have already told the court of my opinion, so I am not deviating," he said.

Bone not damaged

Mr. Spence used Dr. Seshaiah's analysis of Woolmer's hyoid bone as the basis of his argument. Dr. Seshaiah said it was fractured, which indicated the former England player was strangled.

British pathologist, Dr. Nathaniel Cary; Dr. Michael Pollanen, chief pathologist of Ontario, Canada; and Professor Lorna Martin, a leading pathologist in South Africa, testified that after looking at photos of Woolmer's hyoid bone, it was not damaged.

Last week, Dr. Seshaiah admitted after seeing an X-ray of the bone that his finding may have been wrong. Mr. Spence said that Dr. Seshaiah had flouted conventional procedure which resulted in faulty analysis.

Death of the coach

Dr. Seshaiah was defiant, stressing that because he performed the only autopsy on Woolmer, he had an advantage over his foreign counterparts.

"The person who examines the bone can say whether it's broken or not, not somebody who analyses a photo," he said.

Woolmer, 58, was found unconscious in the bathroom of his room at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel on the morning of March 18. He was pronounced dead later that day at the University Hospital of the West Indies.

Initially, Dr. Seshaiah listed Woolmer's cause of death as asphyxia resulting from manual strangulation. During his second testimony last week, he changed that finding to asphyxia due to manual strangulation associated with cypermethrin poisoning.

He said this change came after he saw traces of the pesticide in Woolmer's system after viewing the toxicology report on June 21. On June 12, Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas said there were no toxic sub-stances in Woolmer's body.

Marcia Dunbar, an analyst at the Forensic Science Laboratory, also testified yesterday.