A TERSE exchange between Director of Public Prosecutions Kent Pantry and attorney Richard Small, got the fifth week of the coroner's inquest into the death of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer off to a rollicking start yesterday.

Mr. Pantry was incensed that attorney David Wong Ken, who was subpoenaed to appear as a witness, did not show up for testimony at the Jamaica Conference Centre.

He expressed his displeasure to coroner Patrick Murphy.

"Why isn't Mr. Wong Ken here? He must be above the court. I find this remarkable to say the least," Mr. Pantry argued.

But Mr. Small, representing Mr. Wong Ken, was not shaken. He said he advised Mr. Wong Ken not to attend court as there was no basis for him to do so.

"I take full responsibility for him not being here. It would be an exercise in futility, and a side-show that should not be allowed," Mr. Small said.

Disappointed

Mr. Murphy said he was disappointed by Mr. Wong Ken's no-show. He did not say whether other attempts would be made to get him to attend court. Mr. Pantry said last week that Mr. Wong Ken told a local talk-show programme that he had evidence critical to the Woolmer case. He said Mr. Wong Ken should share such evidence with the court.

Also yesterday, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mark Shields, read the 58-year-old Woolmer's final contact with his wife Gill, an e-mail posted at 9:15 p.m. local time on March 17.

In it, he spoke of his disappointment at Pakistan being eliminated from the Cricket World Cup by Ireland that day. 'Feeling a little depressed, currently, as you might imagine. I am not sure which is worse, being knocked out in the semi-final at Edgbaston or now in the first round. Our batting performance was abysmal and my worse fears were realised," he wrote.

Woolmer was found by staff in the bathroom of his room at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel on the morning of March 18. The former England player was pronounced dead later that day at the University Hospital of the West Indies.

Government pathologist, Dr. Ere Seshaiah, said Woolmer died from asphyxia caused by manual strangulation associated with cypermethrin poisoning.