Latest update June 25th, 2026 9:38 AM
No commitment to independent probe into Adriana Younge’s death
─ VP says president promised thorough inquiry
Kaieteur News- There has been no commitment to an independent investigation into the death of Adriana Younge by the Government of Guyana, but Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said President Irfaan Ali has promised to ensure a thorough probe.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo
During his weekly press conference on Wednesday, Jagdeo was asked whether the government is open to facilitating an independent investigation, as Younge’s family and the public have been calling for it.
Jagdeo said, “On that matter, the president has made it clear there would be a thorough investigation… we have to leave that to be determined, but a thorough investigation is what he promised.”
He said further that he does not want to second-guess the president, who already made it clear that the investigation will be thorough. He said anything further will be left to him as well.
“I have great faith that the investigation will be thorough. We want to find out the truth, we in the PPP too,” Jagdeo added.
An independent post-mortem examination (PME) conducted on the body of 11-year-old Adriana Younge on Monday concluded that the child died from drowning.
This was revealed by her father, Subrian Younge, following a four-hour-long autopsy at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). This was later confirmed by the family’s lawyer, Darren Wade and later President Irfaan Ali at a news conference. Before the PM, which commenced around 12:30pm, a series of scans, including X-rays and a full-body CT, was conducted to assess for fractures and other injuries, including internal bleeding.
While Younge’s mother declined to comment on the findings of the autopsy, the child’s father, who pulled her lifeless body from the Double Day Hotel pool on April 24, told reporters, “This is no result to me.” The child’s family has not accepted the findings of the PME, conducted by a three-member pathology team. The specialists included Dr. Shubhakar Karra Paul from Barbados Dr. Gary Collins, Chief Medical Examiner of Delaware, United States of America and Dr. Glenn Rudner of Mount Sinai Hospital.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, family members disputed claims made by President Ali, who informed the nation that the pathology team had concluded that the child did not die from forcible drowning.
In an interview with Kaieteur News on Tuesday, the child’s aunt, Amika Lewis, explained, “The three pathologists said that my niece died from drowning. Of course, the pathologists can only tell you the cause, they cannot say where she drowned.”
The woman added, “They did not rule out that she was murdered. They explained that to us, that they are not going to rule out that she was murdered…we the citizens, we the family, we the people who were there, know for a fact she did not drown in the pool.”
To this end, Lewis discounted remarks shared by President Irfaan Ali that there was no ‘forceful drowning’ of her niece.
She said, “I don’t know if it was Mr. Ali or Mr. Jagdeo who had a conference and said something that the pathologists said that she wasn’t forcefully (drown). The pathologist did not say that. They did not say that. They said other things: she didn’t have any broken bones; she was not raped. They did not say that she was not murdered. They did not say that she drowned in the pool and they explained that they couldn’t tell us that. They would need a toxicology report and some other stuff done.”
During a press briefing on Monday evening, the Head of State told reporters, “The relatives were also informed that the pathologists ruled out theories of forcible drowning or any other means of killing followed by disposal of the body in water.”
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