Adriana Younge to be laid to rest on Monday as family calls off second autopsy

May 04, 2025 News

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“We don’t go pool, we does go river at the back there. I don’t know to swim but the father would take them there and they would go and swim…it had about five or six persons in the pool that were diving and combing and searching so she was never, never in there”- Adriana’s mother.

…appeals for peaceful burial

Kaieteur News- As loved ones of little Adriana Younge continue to question the circumstances of her death, the 11-year-old who was found in the pool of the Double Day International Hotel, Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo, will be laid to rest on Monday.

Adriana’s lifeless body was pulled from the swimming pool by her father, Subrian Younge, on April 24, just 20 hours after she was reported missing while on a family trip at the location.

An autopsy was conducted on April 28 by a three-member international pathology team. The specialists, 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, concluded that she died from drowning.

On Saturday, it was reported that the family was seeking a second autopsy to be performed by renowned pathologist Dr. Hubert Daisley of Trinidad and Tobago. However, Adriana’s mother later confirmed that relatives have decided against another Post-Mortem Examination (PME).

This newspaper visited the former home of little Adriana in Hyde Park, Parika, on Saturday as family members, including her mother, Amecia Simon, were busy preparing for what appeared to be the traditional Guyanese ‘wake’. Just in front of the family’s home were two small tents where red and black flags flew in honour of the child.

Inside the family home, Kaieteur News caught up with Simon, who explained that the second autopsy is no longer being pursued. She said, “No, (it won’t be done) because it will be too long.”

The grieving mother is, however, hopeful that Dr. Daisley would still be able to provide the family with more answers surrounding her daughter’s death by reviewing the recording of Adriana’s PME.

“I hope so,” the grieving mother said when asked if she wanted the Trinidadian to review the autopsy.

“To be honest, this funeral is on Monday so I don’t know what he can come and do because we had asked for people to come from the States to do a thorough investigation where this thing happened because I am sure there is something right there, probably they didn’t look for, they didn’t try to find and what a coincidence the building started burning again which I think was done by the owner of the building because he is out so he is probably trying to burn more evidence,” the mother said.

Police investigations

When asked if she was comfortable with the actions taken by police so far regarding Commander of Region Three Khalid Mandall being sent on leave and DNA samples for her daughter and the owner of the hotel being sent overseas for testing, Simon said, “No”.

PME results

Moreover, she complained that family members at no point shared their satisfaction with the results of the PME.

Simon made it clear, “We did not have no conversation saying to nobody that we were satisfied with the results because the question still is, she drowned, where did she drown? Ok, I’m not running away from the fact if they are saying that she drowned, but the question is where did she drown, how, by who? What is the marks on her skin?”

With a whirlwind of questions still to be addressed, the family continues to deny that little Adriana drowned in the hotel’s swimming pool.

Simon said she refuses to believe the discoloured parts on her daughter’s body were a result of drowning. “It could never be, that is impossible because when, from the way my child came out of that pool to the point of when I identified the body before they started the Post Mortem, you couldn’t see those marks, her face got dark so this, like this look that she had when she father take she out the pool, it wasn’t there. She face get a different colour so for me that could never be from drowning,” the mother explained.

The woman believes her daughter was killed in another location and then placed into the hotel pool.

She told Kaieteur News, “They probably had some bathtub; it had to be done somewhere (else) not in that pool because we walked there over and over and when her body was discovered, or I should say they throw my child in the pool, there wasn’t no civilian there that was protesting or helping. Is only police officers and the few workers that they had there, those are the people that were in the building, so it’s impossible.”

Simon continued, “Is just ya’ll and my child body appear in the pool that we searching since the day before, since 6 something the morning again, and over, and over again, and magically she appeared and is only officers standing there and workers.”

The mother said that the family does not accept the findings of the first PME since they are confident in Adriana’s ability to swim.

“We don’t go pool, we does go river at the back there. I don’t know to swim but the father would take them there and they would go and swim…it had about five or six persons in the pool that were diving and combing and searching so she was never, never in there,” Simon noted.

While her husband did not search the pool for himself, the mother added, “we had cousins, their husbands, it had a man there doing classes with kids, teaching them to swim, he assisted and even up until 10 o’ clock that night there were families in there still because the place had business going on as normal.”

To date, the family is yet to receive a copy of the preliminary post mortem report. She however underscored that the pathologists did not inform relatives that “forced drowning” was ruled out, as was announced by President Irfaan Ali.

Decomposition

Although it is being reported that the child’s body was in a state of decomposition, her mother said she did not observe this. According to her, “for me it wasn’t decomposed because I saw her face, I didn’t see her entire body but I wasn’t getting any smell, but I saw her face.”

Cotton wool

Meanwhile, Adriana’s mother is confident that the cotton wool found stuffed into her daughter’s nose, was removed before the pathologists could examine the body. According to her, “It’s either two things, they either took out the cotton wool at the hospital or it happened at Mr. Ezekiel’s Parlour because when the body got to Balwant Singh to do the scan and other stuff, the cotton wool that I saw with my two eyes disappeared.”

Excuses

Simon said she believes excuses are being proffered to prevent the Trinidadian pathologist from coming to Guyana. “They are just terrible. I don’t trust none of them because it’s like they are telling you one thing, oh we gon get investigation, we gon get justice but y’all working even and straight with the people them that do these things,” the mother said.

Furthermore, when it comes to President Ali’s commitment to justice for Adriana, the family believes more can and should be done for the child. The mother complained, “To me although he is saying he will get justice and whatever, he is not even saying anything towards our request for an independent investigation.”

Since the post mortem was conducted, the family has not been visited by the first family; however, Adriana’s mother said she received a call from First Lady, Arya Ali.

While the family prepares to bury little Adriana, they continue to await the toxicology report on the samples that were taken abroad for tests.

Adriana’s funeral

Little Adriana will be laid to rest on Monday. The church she attended would not be able to facilitate a large number of persons; as such her funeral service is scheduled to be held at the Vergenoegen tarmac, East Bank Essequibo.

According to information from the child’s aunt, Amika Lewis, “Funeral will be on Monday May 5, 2025. The body will leave Ezekiel Funeral parlor at 11 (am) thence to her home, Hyde Parika thence to Vergenoegen Rice Mill Tarmac for funeral service. Burial will take place at the Vergenoegen Cemetery.”

Lewis also appealed for a peaceful burial of the child. She explained that the family understands persons are planning to protest and stop Adriana’s burial until another PME is conducted. She however made it clear, “We do not agree to or condone this action. We will bury Adriana in a peaceful manner on Monday.”

Health Minister questions 2^nd autopsy

Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony in a live broadcast minutes to midnight on Friday sought to question the legality of a second autopsy. According to Dr. Anthony after the child’s body was recovered it was securely taken to the hospital and later to the Ezekiel Funeral Parlour until the time of the examination by the three pathologists.

He noted too that since the body was handed over to the family after the autopsy he cannot speak to its security or whether it was compromised. He said that the integrity of that second autopsy would then be questionable since the body is outside the custody of police officers.

Dr Anthony said, “Since Monday at the completion of the autopsy, the body was handed over to the family and was no longer in police custody. This then if another autopsy is being done, it will be done but we don’t know since this body was not secured, we don’t know what would happen to the body from Monday to whenever that autopsy would be done. Also, we don’t know what would be the medical legal effect of that second autopsy.”

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• Adriana, funeral, peace, second autopsy, Swim

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