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Justice begins with truth
Dear Editor,
Kaieteur News – I am dismayed, for the second time in recent days, regarding your recent Editorials—most notably that of Monday, June 23—which addressed the tragic death of 11-year-old Adriana Younge.
Your newspaper had distinguished itself in 2020 by refusing to be drawn into conspiracy theories and discredited narratives about dead and migrant people voting. But your Editorial of last Monday now appears to have abandoned that same principled standard.
At the height of a political crisis in 2020, Kaieteur News demanded evidence, rejected falsehoods, and insisted on facts. That legacy makes your Editorial posture of Monday, June 23, all the more troubling. Rather than giving credence to the overwhelming and conclusive scientific findings of a team of highly qualified pathologists, your Editorial gives oxygen to conspiracy theories unsupported by even a shred of credible evidence.
The final report of the first autopsy, conducted by a team of credentialed professionals— forensic experts from Barbados and the United States—found that Adriana died by drowning. Their conclusions were not vague or open-ended. They pointed to the classic signs of drowning: Lungs described as crepitant with oedema and congestion; Over 400 ml of fluid in each pleural cavity; Congealed foam in the nostrils and mouth; and washerwoman skin consistent with prolonged submersion.
That autopsy found no evidence of trauma or foul play: No external or internal signs of injury, strangulation, or sexual assault; No foreign DNA; No drugs in her system—only trace ethanol consistent with decomposition. Additionally, the body bore a patterned imprint from a VIP wristband, confirming it had remained submerged continuously. Her clothing was intact and properly positioned, and her skin was free of ante-mortem injuries, ruling out any post-mortem movement or tampering.
All of this was reinforced by a second autopsy in the United States, which, while emphasising that drowning is a diagnosis of exclusion, still affirmed the competence with which the first autopsy was conducted, and also raised no evidence of trauma.
Furthermore, the police investigation, which was overseen by a retired member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, found no evidence of foul play. And yet, despite the accumulation of clear, clinical, corroborated facts, your Editorial calls for “justice”, implying that accidental drowning has not been established. That suggestion is not only misleading but irresponsible, particularly from a newspaper that once held itself to a higher Editorial standard.
Justice begins with truth. It cannot be built on doubt for doubt’s sake, or sustained by lending a platform to conjecture when the facts have spoken. Kaieteur News should not, must not, become a megaphone for discredited narratives.
Regards,
Rupnauth Hardyal
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