Desmond Richards, former president of the Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ), is voicing his suspicions surrounding the police version of the cause of death of veteran sports journalist Job Nelson.

Nelson died on May 21 with the initial police version saying he was shot while driving along Spanish Town Road. A month later, however, the Police High Command reported that he did not die from a gunshot wound as previously reported.

According to the police, an autopsy conducted on Nelson’s body found that he died from a puncture wound that resulted from a metal object discharged from the airbag of the car he was driving when it crashed along Collie Smith Drive on the night of May 21. No bullet wound was reportedly found on Nelson’s body.

Speaking at Nelson’s funeral service on Saturday (July 13), Richards, who worked with him over several years, serving as his managing editor at the Sunday Herald and senior reporter at the Jamaica Record in the late 1980s, would have none of it.

He openly questioned the autopsy results saying, “I’m not buying it I want the Press Association of Jamaica and the media fraternity to find out how Job was killed.”

Richards, who operates Rebel Radio, an online radio talk show, was critical of the police handling of the investigation, initially saying it was a case of murder and later backtracking attributing the cause of death to a projectile from the airbag of the car.

The veteran journalist argued the airbag is built as a safety device in the event of a crash, as had happened in the case of Nelson, questioning how he died from this.

Richards’ no-hold-barred speech raised eyebrows with some of those in attendance visibly agreeing with his stance and the desire for a deeper probe into Nelson’s death.

The thanksgiving service was held at the Grace Missionary Church in St Andrew, with the sermon delivered by Pastor Mark Dawes, who worked with Nelson at the Gleaner Company in the 1990s. 

Ironically, the sermon was delivered from the book of Job. 

Nelson, 53, was up to the time of his death working as a sports journalist with the RJRGLEANER Communications Group.