What about the forensic lab?

Jun 03, 2025 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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Hard Truths…

By GHK Lall

Kaieteur News- The mystery passing of this child, Adriana Younge, has intensified calls for an independent probe led by international investigators.  It is the least that her memory deserves, what is due to her family.  I believe that the calls for international expertise and input have much merit, given what Guyana has got in the reputation of local law enforcement.

It is not much, and that’s being polite.  But aren’t Guyanese forgetting something, one which should be worth its weight due to its location, and what that could mean?  Right here, over in Turkeyen, there is the Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory (GFSL), which should be given the opportunity to prove its mettle.  It may be the last thing welcomed here, but I still table.

The GFSL is equipped to handle from firearms testing to toxicology work, and has been hailed as a facility that could benefit the entire region. The former head of India’s Crime Bureau of Investigation is one of the spearheads around work being done at the GFSL.  In the complex, mysterious, and delicate matter of Adriana Younge’s death, I am thinking that some value could be obtained here (at the GFSL) rather than sending material for examination to overseas labs.

If the lab is ready-equipment, the kind of manpower needed, the overall conditions and availability-then Guyana could prioritise arranging international experts coming here to get the necessary testing done.  I repeat – coming here.  We have read and heard of the time that it takes to get samples sent overseas tested and returned; more often than not, it can take a few weeks.  Because the reality is that samples sent from Guyana have to join a line and wait their turn at the table of examination.  At the risk of sounding crude, there are priorities much bigger than a little child who died a strange death in some low totem, faraway place that many people still have difficulty identifying.  Why not bring in people that can be trusted, experts to do the job right here?

Time is being lost, and the death of Adriana Younge, and the circumstances surrounding her untimely departure from this vale, have generated national interest, national passions, and national impatience.  It is not good for the health of this country for so many of its citizens to be gnawing at their fingernails while waiting anxiously for the next development.  I think, I recommend, that better use be made of what has been said to be best in this region.  It was the Hon. Minister of Home Affairs, Mr. Robeson Benn, who had challenged GFSL personnel to go beyond firearm forensics.  To this end, there are media reports that noted the government has engaged experts in crime scene forensics, among other things.

In thinking of all the back and forth, and ups and downs, surrounding this child’s death, the thought came of that tragic Bell 412 helicopter crash in the remote interior that killed five Guyanese soldiers, and injured two.  It took close to a year after the crash before an announcement about a draft report was heard; a report that didn’t shed much light, which is the best that could be said about it.  Further, it was reported that the cockpit voice recorder was badly damaged, hence, of limited value.  Of note, however, is the fact that one of the survivors was in the co-pilot’s seat at the time of the fateful crash.  My point is that, on occasion, there are assets right here, and that the best intelligence could be had from them.  I think that the GFSL should fit into this category.  The concern, however, is sentiments are so far along, and trust nowhere to be found, that anything that has ‘Made in Guyana’ or ‘Operated in Guyana’ has a life of its own, viz., the worst reputation that could be imagined.

Currently, there is Adriana’s matter, which has attracted national attention and stirred national convictions, one way or another.  The longer that it hangs over this nation’s head unresolved, the more unsettled wide sections of the local populace.  If Guyana is ever going to make a start at getting over its problems, and stand on its own feet, it is going to have to start somewhere.  It may be the worst thing to say at this time, but this is the time, with the GFSL as Exhibit 1, that Guyana could start extracting some returns from it, since so much money was invested, and with the kind of fanfare that greeted its unveiling.

This is but one aspect of the investigation into what really transpired and led to the death of 11-year-old Adriana Younge.  Another is the press for an international investigation that has its pluses, which I have guardedly endorsed.  Separately, there’re also some misgivings relative to international agencies being recruited to render assistance (there is an already finished offering).  They can be very good, at times; and they can leave feeling that some ground was lost, in some other instances.  Guyana’s troubles multiply when second-guessing flourishes, and leadership trust is nonexistent.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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