– Canadian investigator says police investigation competently done
While the Canadian investigator who was brought in to provide expert oversight of the Guyana Police Force’s (GPF) handling of the Adrianna Younge case has said the investigation was a competent one, the Region Three Commander who initially oversaw what started as a search for a missing person, remains on administrative leave.
Head of the GPF’s Corporate Communications Unit, Mark Ramotar, confirmed, when asked by members of the media, that Commander of Regional Division #3, Assistant Commissioner Khalid Mandall, remains on administrative leave more than a month after he was placed on it to facilitate investigations into Adrianna Younge’s death.
Region Three Commander Khalid Mandall
Days after the discovery of Younge’s body in the now gutted Double D hotel pool, Mandall was sent on administrative leave. This occurred after the Force had claimed that the child was seen on video leaving the hotel in a vehicle – something which the family insisted was not true based on neighbouring footage they reviewed.
It was subsequently revealed that a female civilian staff at the command centre had misled the police. She and several police ranks were also sent on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
Moreover, another rank was also been identified for passing on false information. The investigations revealed that a sergeant from the Special Constabulary Unit misled her colleagues when she claimed that she was on duty in the Region’s Operation Room, and an anonymous male caller informed her that the 11-year-old girl was seen leaving the hotel after joining a black (Raum) motor vehicle.
Canadian investigator
Meanwhile, in a further development, it was revealed by retired Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) investigator Leonard McCoshen, who was brought in by Government to review the investigative work done by the GPF in the case, that the work done by local law enforcement was “exceptional”.
RCMP investigator Leonard McCoshen
Following a comprehensive investigation in which he reviewed 400 pages of documents, as well as numerous digital forensic evidence, McCoshen had handed over a report on his findings to the GPF. Among those findings is that no foul play was detected in Younge’s death.
“McCoshen revealed that after reviewing all of the material, “it is very apparent to me that members who investigated this incident took the utmost time and considerable effort to speak to any and all persons that had any information to provide, relative to the incident,” the police said in a statement on the report McCoshen handed over.
“The facts surrounding a great deal of care in documenting the movement of the body of Adrianna Younge, after she was taken to the Leonora Cottage Hospital is exceptional and something that I have not seen before.”
According to the GPF in its statement, McCoshen was able to verify that the GPF spoke with all witnesses who were willing to cooperate. Further, extensive efforts were made to speak to those witnesses who were unwilling.
“According to McCoshen, if a thorough search had been done of the pool by properly trained and properly equipped people at the onset, “this investigation would have very likely not garnered the international attention and political pressure that it finds itself in today”,” the force also observed in its statement.
Adrianna, who was last seen by her grandmother around 13:01h on April 23 in the hotel’s swimming pool, was found dead in the same pool the following morning. Her disappearance and delayed recovery led her family to question the circumstances of her death, raising concerns that she might have been lured, assaulted, drowned elsewhere, and placed back in the pool.
A three-member team of internationally-recognised pathologists had concluded from their post mortem examination, which was conducted in Guyana on April 28, that 11-year-old Adrianna died from drowning, with no signs of foul play or physical assault. Just a few days ago, a fourth pathologist, United States (US), Gwinnet County, Georgia Medical Examiner, Carol A Terry, MD, conducted a second autopsy on Younge’s body at the behest of the family and confirmed there was no sign of trauma on the body, echoing the findings of the first autopsy.
