Guyana Business Journal Editorial
November 12, 2025
Today, Adrianna Younge would have been celebrating her twelfth birthday. May her soul rest in peace.
Instead of celebrating with family, opening presents, or blowing out candles on a birthday cake, Guyana marks this day with a somber recognition of a tragedy that exposed the profound failures of our institutions and the fragility of justice in our nation. Seven months after her death on April 23, 2025, the investigation into what happened to this eleven-year-old girl at the Double Day Hotel in Tuschen remains unresolved, with no charges filed and more questions than answers. As we remember Adrianna on what should have been a day of joy, we must confront the uncomfortable truths her case revealed about our capacity to protect our most vulnerable citizens and deliver accountability when that protection fails.
The events of April 23, 2025, are seared into Guyana’s collective memory. Adrianna arrived at the Double Day Hotel around 1:00 PM with her grandmother, Carol Xavier, and other relatives for what should have been a simple family outing. She was last seen alive in the hotel’s swimming pool area just minutes after arriving, captured in photographic evidence that would become the final documented moment of her life. When her family couldn’t find her by 3:30 PM that afternoon, they notified the Tuschen Police Station and launched an urgent search. Despite multiple efforts by relatives and hotel staff throughout the afternoon and into the next morning, Adrianna’s body was not discovered until approximately 10:00 AM on April 24—nearly 20 hours after she was reported missing—floating in the very pool that had been the focus of intensive search activity. The question that haunts us still: How does an eleven-year-old child’s body remain undetected for nearly a day in a confined space that multiple people searched repeatedly?
What followed Adrianna’s death was a cascading series of failures that transformed a family tragedy into a national crisis of confidence in our institutions. The Guyana Police Force released information claiming CCTV footage showed Adrianna entering a red and black Toyota Raum and leaving the premises—information that was demonstrably false and later retracted. This wasn’t merely an error; it was misinformation that inflicted additional psychological trauma on a grieving family and wasted precious investigative resources pursuing a non-existent abduction. A civilian employee at the command centre was blamed, but the real question is how such critical misinformation could be released without proper verification. The search failures were equally troubling. As Canadian investigator Leonard McCoshen noted in his May 31 review, if a thorough search of the pool had been conducted by adequately trained and equipped people at the onset, “this investigation would have very likely not garnered international attention and political pressure.” The pool, he emphasized, “needed to be checked properly.” This observation raises fundamental questions about basic competencies in our police force.
The community’s response was explosive and destructive. Fires were set at the Double Day Hotel and the hotel owner’s residence. A twelve-hour standoff erupted outside the Leonora Police Station. While we cannot condone the violence and destruction, we must understand it as a symptom of a deeper malady: the profound erosion of public trust in institutions that are supposed to serve and protect.
Perhaps most disturbing is that the Double Day Hotel pool was the site of another suspicious death in 2012. Twenty-one-year-old Sadeek Juman’s body was found floating in the same pool, also after an extended period of searching, also with signs of trauma, and also with an autopsy conclusion of drowning. In that case, the hotel manager and another individual were charged with murder but acquitted in 2017 for lack of evidence. Sadeek’s mother, Bibi Farida Juman, has stated that the marks of violence on Adrianna’s body were “the same as my son 12 years ago.” Two deaths. Same location. Same circumstances. Similar evidence. Similar questions. Different only in the scale of public outcry. What does it say about our regulatory systems that a facility with such a history continued to operate without apparent enhanced oversight or safety reforms? What does it say about our justice system that lessons were not learned and safeguards not implemented after the first tragedy?
To their credit, authorities responded to public pressure by bringing in international expertise. Two independent autopsies were conducted by highly qualified pathologists from the United States and Barbados. Both concluded that Adrianna died by drowning with no evidence of sexual assault or antemortem physical trauma. Yet visible injuries—bruises and swelling to her face and limbs—were observed when her body was discovered. How do we reconcile these findings? The scientific evidence tells us one thing. The eyes of those who saw her body tell us they saw something else. Both can be true if we understand that post-mortem changes and the effects of water immersion can create appearances that mislead the untrained eye. But this explanation, while scientifically sound, does little to satisfy a family’s grief or a community’s demand for answers. The Canadian investigator’s review found no evidence of foul play. Video evidence showed no person, including Adrianna, leaving the hotel area under any circumstances other than usual. No one present at the hotel saw or recorded evidence that she left or was taken from the pool area. Yet she disappeared while under family supervision at a commercial facility that should have had adequate security and safety protocols.
Seven months later, the case remains active but unresolved. Former Region Three Commander Khalid Mandall remains on administrative leave, along with several other ranks and a civilian. Two officers were fired for neglect. But accountability has been limited to personnel actions. No one has been charged. No comprehensive reforms have been announced. No systematic review of hotel safety regulations has been undertaken. Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum acknowledged in July that the case “shook the entire nation and we have learnt from it.” But what, exactly, have we learned? And more importantly, what are we doing differently? The Director of Public Prosecution still awaits a completed case file. The family still awaits closure. The public still awaits answers to basic questions: What were the precise circumstances leading to Adrianna’s drowning? Why wasn’t her body found sooner? What safety protocols were in place that day? Were lifeguards on duty? What has the hotel done to address safety concerns? What regulatory oversight exists to prevent future tragedies?
On Adrianna Younge’s birthday, we must do more than remember. We must commit to the systemic changes her death demands. We need comprehensive pool safety regulations, including mandatory trained lifeguards at commercial facilities, adequate surveillance systems, regular inspections, and effective enforcement mechanisms. The laissez-faire approach that allowed the Double Day Hotel to continue operating after the 2012 death cannot continue. We need police reform that ensures officers are appropriately trained and equipped for search operations, that crime scene protocols are followed rigorously, and that false information is never released to the public. The missteps in this case were not acceptable and must never be repeated. We need accountability mechanisms that go beyond administrative leave and personnel reassignments. When institutions fail this catastrophically, there must be consequences that create real incentives for change. We need a justice system that can effectively prosecute cases and preserve evidence so that “lack of prosecution’s evidence” doesn’t become a recurring excuse for acquittals in suspicious deaths. We need transparency in investigations, especially those involving powerful interests, so that families and communities can trust that justice is being pursued vigorously and impartially.
Most fundamentally, we need a renewed commitment to protecting our children. Adrianna Younge was eleven years old. She went to a hotel pool for a family outing. She should have come home. That she did not represents a failure that should weigh on all of us.
As we mark Adrianna’s birthday, her father, Subrian Younge, and her family continue to grieve a loss that can never be made whole. No investigation, however thorough, and no reforms, however comprehensive, will bring Adrianna back. But we can honor her memory by ensuring that the systemic failures exposed by her death are addressed. We can work to prevent future families from experiencing similar tragedies. We can rebuild the trust between citizens and institutions that was so severely damaged. We can prove that when we say we’ve learned from this case, we mean it.
Twelve years old. That’s all Adrianna should have been today. A child entering adolescence, full of promise and potential, surrounded by a family that loved her dearly. Instead, she is a symbol of how far we still have to go as a society to protect our most vulnerable, deliver justice for victims, and hold our institutions accountable when they fail. Happy birthday, Adrianna. Guyana has not forgotten you. And we must not rest until the changes your death demands are realized.
The Guyana Business Journal calls on the Director of Public Prosecution to expedite the review of this case, on the government to implement comprehensive pool safety regulations, on the Guyana Police Force to complete its reforms and release a public report on lessons learned, and on the business community to voluntarily adopt enhanced safety standards without waiting for regulatory mandates. Justice delayed is justice denied. But it is never too late to do what is right.
This editorial represents the institutional voice of the Guyana Business Journal, continuing our coverage of the Adrianna Younge case that began with our April 26 editorial “Adrianna Younge’s Death Demands Transparent Answers and Independent Justice” and our June 22 editorial “Justice Delayed, Truth Denied: The Adrianna Younge Case and the Imperative for Accountability.”
Guyana Business Journal
Website: https://guyanabusinessjournal.com
Mission: Fostering critical dialogue and thought leadership that contribute to securing an open, prosperous, and inclusive Guyana
Editor’s Note
📢 Please support the Guyana Business Journal & Magazine today
The Guyana Business Journal is committed to delivering thoughtful, data-driven insights on the most critical issues shaping Guyana’s future—from oil and gas to climate change, governance, and development. We invite you to support us if you value and believe in the importance of independent Guyanese-led analysis. Your contributions help us sustain rigorous research, expand access, and amplify the voices of informed individuals across the Caribbean and the diaspora.
The Guyana Business Journal Editorial Board welcomes reflections and submissions at terrence.blackman@guyanabusinessjournal.com.
What Barbados Built