Adrianna Younge’s drowning: Cops fired, hotel owner released from custody, blacklisted from leaving Guyana

…DNA samples sent to Mount Sinai for advanced testing …Govt lifts curfew

As investigations continue into the death of 11-year-old Adrianna Younge’s death, two ranks of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) have been fired for neglect over their handling of the young girl’s case.
In a statement on Thursday, the GPF said the two ranks, “…a Corporal and a Constable, were relieved of their duties due to neglect.”
The young girl had gone with relatives to the poolside of the Double Day Hotel at Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo (EBE) poolside on Wednesday, April 23 but disappeared shortly after. Her body was found the following day in the hotel’s pool, which raised a lot of suspicion since the area was previously searched and there were no signs of her.
In fact, the young girl’s family members have accused the police, especially those in Regional Division #3, for failing to properly investigate her disappearance when the report was first made.
Following the discovery of the girl’s body, the owner of the hotel that was destroyed by fire, was arrested but has been released from custody and barred from leaving the country.
Though it did not state when the hotelier was released, the police said he was released after the statutory detention period had elapsed.
“He was instructed to report to the police station on a daily basis and was also ‘blacklisted ‘ or prohibited from leaving the jurisdiction,” the GPF said in its Thursday missive.

DNA samples
A detailed forensic autopsy, which included a CT scan and x-ray, conducted by three international pathologists gave Adrianna’s cause of death as drowning. However, the team of forensic experts could not determine where the drowning occurred, nor was it possible to establish the exact time of death because of the decomposition of the body.
There were suspicions surrounding the girl’s death after marks were observed on her body. But the pathologists found during the forensic autopsy that the marks are consistent with water damage, and that there was no sign of sexual assault or violence on the young girl’s body.
The near five-hour-long procedure was done on Monday by the Chief Medical Examiner of the State of Delaware, Dr Gary L. Collins, who was selected by the Younge family, along with Barbadian expert Dr Shubhakar Karra Paul and Dr Glenn A. Rudner of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, both brought in by the Guyana Government.
According to the police, DNA samples obtained from the young girl’s body as well as the hotel’s owner will be sent for advanced testing and analysis at the Mount Sinai Health System, New York. The samples were scheduled to be escorted Thursday’s evening by a forensic investigator.
The family of the 11-year-old girl has already expressed their lack of trust in the Police Force and called for an independent, international investigation.
However, President Dr Irfaan Ali has committed to a thorough investigation into the death of the young girl. Only Thursday, Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has expressed confidence in the GPF’s ability to get to the truth.
“I have great faith that the investigation will be thorough. We want to find out the truth… If the police were involved in a cover-up or anything, we want to find the truth too, and we have demonstrated that when we find the truth, people face the consequences. We are not interested in a cover-up,” Jagdeo stated at a press conference on Wednesday.
The investigations are being led by the GPF’s Major Crimes Unit.

Admin leave
Days after the discovery of the girl’s body in the hotel’s pool, Commander of Regional Division #3, Assistant Commissioner Khalid Mandall, was went on administrative leave. The GPF in Thursday’s missive that the commander remains on admin leave.
The distrust in the police by both the girl’s family and the public had grown further 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.
“The civilian staff… has admitted to detectives that she entered the wrong date whilst checking the camera system located within the vicinity of the Double Day Hotel. She had been tasked to ascertain whether or not Adrianna Younge had left the above place. As a consequence of her error, she misled the ranks by reporting that she observed a female who fit the description of Adrianna Younge, leaving the hotel with a male,” the police said.
Moreover, another rank has 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.
In an effort to investigate the origin of the information about this vehicle, investigators managed to obtain the call information and arrested the so-called male anonymous caller. However, it turned out that the caller is well acquainted with the special constabulary rank.
He informed detectives that he and the female rank spoke for about 10 minutes on the day in question during which he told her that he was standing in front of the hotel, when he overheard persons talking about the girl leaving in a black Raum, hence, he related the said information to the special sergeant. Police say the call log also confirmed the duration of the phone call as related by the individual.

Curfew lifted
Meanwhile, also on Thursday, the Guyana Government, which had issued a curfew to curb violence protests across the country on Monday night, has since lifted the restrictions.
What started off as a peaceful protest for justice outside the Georgetown Public Hospital, where the autopsy was being conducted on the 11-year-old girl, quickly escalated Monday night into terror, with persons setting fiery road blocks, beating and robbing civilians, damaging private and public properties, and looting several businesses.
The Ministry of Home Affairs had ordered a national curfew between 00:30h to 05:00 in the interest of public safety.