Suspicious Hotel Death of Child Leads to Protest

By Leroy Smith

April 24 2025– After a press statement from the Guyana Police on Wednesday claimed that video evidence showed 11-year-old Adrianna Younge got into a vehicle and left the Double Day Hotel at Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo, the child’s remains were later pulled from the hotel’s pool.

As a result of that disinformation and misinformation, protesters set fire to the hotel and the home of its proprietor. Several items were looted from the business premises, while others were used to block the Tuschen East Bank Essequibo Public Road and were set alight, bringing traffic to a halt.

On Wednesday, Adrianna Younge, along with other family members, was taken to the Double Day Hotel for a swim when it was discovered that she was missing. The hotel’s management and the police were immediately informed.

The hotel claimed that their CCTV cameras were not working. While cameras from surrounding properties showed the child and her family arriving at the location, none showed her leaving the premises.

The police in Regional Police Division 3 then informed Force Headquarters in Georgetown that they had received footage from the country’s Smart City Solution cameras, which allegedly showed the child leaving the compound in a car bearing registration plate PSS 4684.

The police statement further claimed that, when contacted, the car’s owner stated he had rented the vehicle to someone named Orlando, and visits to his home confirmed he was not present.

The statement also claimed that the vehicle was later spotted in Onderneeming, West Bank Demerara. It should be noted that all of this was false. None of these events occurred.

The child never left the hotel, and her body was mysteriously found in the hotel’s pool on Thursday morning—the same pool that civilians had searched on Wednesday.

These developments have exposed several police lapses, including their inability or unwillingness to follow leads, the misleading of the press and the public, their refusal to act impartially in favor of a business-owning family to whom they are connected, the attempt to divert public focus from the hotel to another location, and the insensitivity of the police commander, who sent the distraught mother away from the place where she believed, based on available evidence, her child was still present.

By Thursday afternoon, President Irfaan Ali stated that the Commissioner of Police had informed him that a thorough probe would be conducted to determine all the circumstances surrounding the incident. The Police Force later issued a statement saying it would conduct interviews to determine why Force Headquarters was misinformed and to assess the actions taken by each individual, including the Divisional Commander, after the child was reported missing.

Also on Thursday, Deputy Commissioner of Police Simon McBean was on the ground, attempting to restore order amid the confusion—clearly unmanageable for the Division’s Commander, Assistant Commissioner Khalid Mandall.