Thousands to bid final farewell to Adriana today

May 05, 2025 News

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…Family calls for peace

Kaieteur News- Close to two weeks after she was found dead in the Double Day Hotel swimming pool, Adriana Younge will be laid to rest today- a funeral that is expected to attract thousands of people from across the country.

Younge’s family believes she was murdered, but a postmortem examination has only concluded that she died by drowning. A second autopsy was stymied by the authorities and her family has decided to go ahead with the funeral today.  Based on funeral details, her body will leave Ezekiel Funeral Parlour at 11 AM for her Hyde, Parika, East Bank Essequibo home for viewing and short service, before moving onto the Vergenoegen Rice Mill Tarmac for funeral service. Burial will take place at the Vergenoegen Cemetery.  Amid widespread fear of a repeat of the mayhem that followed the results of her postmortem last week Monday, Younge’s family has been appealing to citizens for a peaceful burial of the child. Family members explained that they understand persons are planning to protest,”we do not agree to or condone this action. We will bury Adriana in a peaceful manner on Monday,” Amica Lewis Younge’s aunt has said.

However, family has remained resolute in their calls for an independent investigation into the circumstances under which the child died. Police last week said that DNA samples were taken from the owner of the Double Day Hotel as well as Adriana and sent overseas for examination. But family members have been calling for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Scotland Yard or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to conduct a thorough investigation. President Irfan Ali has so far promised that the Commissioner of Police has been instructed to assemble a local team of police officers to conduct the probe.  

In addition, to the Younge’s family, Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton has also written President Ali, requesting an International Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the death of the child, the response of the police, and the public unrests which followed. Norton said the inquiry must be supported by neutral reputable investigators from foreign agencies like the FBI, Scotland Yard, or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He said the commission’s main functions should be uncovering the truth, ensuring that the persons responsible for Younge’s murder are brought to justice, without fear or favor, and that the confidence of the public in the rule of law is restored.

According to the letter, the degree of inaction and complacency throughout the case cannot be overlooked as decisions, omissions and public communications reveal a disturbing pattern that can be reasonably interpreted as “politically expedient incompetence.” It is in this regard that Norton is requesting an international CoI, that should be headed by a distinguished Commonwealth jurist.

Norton has proposed 13 Terms of Reference (Tors), which, he said, are critical to ensuring an authentic process, that is thorough and capable of withstanding domestic and international scrutiny. They include to: Develop a Corroborated Chronology, which will reconstruct an accurate timeline of events from when Ms. Younge went missing to when her body was found, and the subsequent reactions; Evaluate Police Response – determine whether there was professionalism or a lack of it, timeliness, and effectiveness of the police throughout all stages; Review Breaches in the Chain of Command-examine communications within the Guyana Police Force from the time the missing child report was filed to the lifting of the curfew imposed after the events of April 28, 2025; Assess Evidence Handling – Determine whether the failure to maintain the hotel and surrounding area as a crime scene compromised key forensic evidence. Assess whether this failure resulted from incompetence, or deliberate action or inaction; Evaluate Public Communication – Evaluate whether information provided to the public and to Ms. Younge’s family was accurate, timely, and transparent, including statements regarding the autopsy results. Determine whether any such pronouncement was intended to mislead the public; Crowd Control and Use of Force – Determine whether the Guyana Police Force’s failure to take preemptive action to implement crowd control-particularly on the day of the autopsy-was the result of incompetence or a calculated decision; Explore the Unrest – Assess the extent to which the actions or inactions of the Guyana Police Force contributed to the escalation of unrest.” It should also be determined whether the use of force, inclusive of deadly force, complied with standard operating procedures, and to what extent any breach of those procedures contributed to the unrest.

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.

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