A Home Circuit Court jury has expressed dissatisfaction with the integrity of post-mortems in Jamaica after hearing conflicting opinions about the cause of death in a murder case.

Supreme Court judge Jennifer Straw, on hearing the jurors' concern, told prosecutor John Tyme to ask the director of public prosecutions to write to the relevant ministry about the issue.

The foreman of the jury outlined the jurors' concern last Friday after 44-year-old Kingston businessman Stephen Bitter was freed of the murder of his grandfather, 91-year-old Ronald Bitter.

It was reported at first that Ronald Bitter had fallen on September 16, 2003 at his home at Mona Heights, St Andrew.

A post-mortem report by Dr Ere Seshaiah, consultant forensic pathologist, revealed that the senior citizen had been severely beaten. The report stated that the deceased's liver was damaged, ribs were broken and the spleen ruptured. The body had no signs of external injury.

Heart attack

Bitter, who was represented by defence lawyers Ravil Golding and Tamika Harris, testified that his grandfather suffered a heart attack in early September 2003 and was admitted to hospital for 10 days. He went home after he was discharged from the hospital and, while going up a flight of stairs, he collapsed.

Seshaiah said when he performed the post-mortem, he did not know the deceased's medical history.

Seshaiah came to international prominence when he reported that Bob Woolmer, coach of Pakistan's 2007 Cricket World Cup team, had been strangled. Other forensic reports contradicted Seshaiah's findings, ruling the cause of Woolmer's death natural, not murder related.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com