Adrianna Younge’s drowning Thorough probe needed to determine if there was foul play – Jagdeo

Now that the cause of Adrianna Younge’s death has been established as drowning, Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has said, there needs to be a thorough investigation to determine whether there was any foul play in her death.

“The family still deserves to find out the truth about what happened to Adrianna Younge. We need to thoroughly investigate the circumstances under which she drowned: whether there was foul play or not; whether she just drowned in the pool while she was there swimming,” the Vice President stated on Wednesday during his weekly press conference.
While the post-mortem examination (PME) gave the cause of death as drowning, the team of distinguished international 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.
The near five-hour-long forensic autopsy was conducted 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.

President Dr Irfaan Ali has already reassured that there would be a thorough investigation – something which the Vice President reiterated during his press conference, saying that the State has a duty to fully investigate this matter.
“I believe, more than anything else, that the family needs this truth…I saw the anguish and pain on the faces of family members – the mother and particularly the father…where he said his gut feeling was that the child was in the hotel…And so we have a duty to him and the family, they need to know whether there was foul play or not,” he posited.
Adrianna had gone with her grandmother and other relatives to the poolside at the Double Day Hotel at Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo (EBE) on Wednesday, April 23. However, she disappeared shortly after, and her body was eventually found in the hotel’s pool in the morning of the following day, raising several questions, especially since the pool area had previously been searched and there was no sign on her.
Suspicions surrounding the girl’s death further grew after there were marks observed on her body. However, the pathologists found during the forensic autopsy, which included a CT scan and x-ray, 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.
Meanwhile, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) had previously stated that it is awaiting the conduct of the PME, noting that the confirmation of the young girl’s cause of death is a critical aspect of the ongoing investigation.
However, there has been widespread mistrust of the Police Force, especially the Regional Division #3, after the ranks there failed to properly investigate the disappearance of the young girl when the report was made. The discovery of her body sparked outrage, with protest actions spreading from Region Three to other parts of the country, calling for justice – with some of these actions turning violent.

Distrust
Adrianna’s family have already expressed their distrust of the GPF and called for an independent investigation. The actions of several members of the regional police team that responded to the report of Adrianna’s disappearance are under question, with both President Ali and the Vice President demanding answers.
This was after the police reported initially that there was footage at the hotel showing that the 11-year-old girl had entered a motorcar and left the hotel, but her family was adamant that she never left, since they reviewed footage from a neighbour’s security camera, which showed no signs of her leaving.
Hours after Adrianna’s body was discovered, the police admitted to releasing “inaccurate” information. In fact, it was reported that the misinformation was generated by a civilian at the control centre, who has since been sent on leave.
Moreover, the Commander of Regional Division #3, Assistant Commissioner Khalid Mandall, has been sent on administrative leave, while three police officers in the division are also currently under close arrest and a number of other police ranks have been questioned as well.
The GPF said, too, that investigators have thus far contacted and questioned the proprietor of the Hotel and all employees who were present there on the day of the incident. It is unclear, however, whether the owner and the staff are still in custody.
In fact, since the autopsy, there has been no official update from the GPF on the investigations that are being led by the Force’s Major Crimes Unit. Nevertheless, the Vice President has expressed confidence in the GPF’s ability.
“The President has made it clear that there’d be a thorough investigation. We have to leave that to be determined. [But] a thorough investigation is what he promised, and so I don’t want to second guess the President…But I have great faith that the investigation will be thorough. We want to find out the truth – we in the PPP too,” noted Jagdeo, who is also the General Secretary of the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic Government.
He went on to declare that, “If the police were involved in a coverup 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 coverup…”