Dr. Caleb McCloggan has urged members of the public to allow due process to continue, following the release of the findings of the post-mortem conducted on 11-year-old Adrianna Younge on Monday.
Dr. McCloggan was present to witness the post-mortem examination, which gave Younge’s cause of death as drowning.
Speaking on a livestream via his Facebook account last evening, he urged the public to remain calm, noting that the process will continue with the results from a toxicology report, which is already in process.
Dr. McCloggan said the violent protests across Guyana which followed the release of the findings are not warranted.
He noted that during a meeting with the family and forensic pathologists prior to the post-mortem examination, he made a request for them to determine Younge’s time of death, but was told by pathologists that this was a bit impossible.
He noted, however, that doctors had predicted the findings prior to the examination being conducted.
“Before even going into the meeting I knew, like many others, that this young lady was drowned– cause of death was drowning. We knew this,” he said.
“Secondly, I asked them, I said to them, and these were my exact words, ‘When we go in and we find water in her lungs I want you guys to be able to tell me or tell us if this water came from a tap pipe or if this water came from the pool. Will you guys be able to determine this for us?’ They responded also in a negative. So all the time we of course, we know cause of death, and their job was to confirm the cause of death. They have done that,” Dr. McCloggan added.
He noted that the family’s lawyer, Darren Wade, has already informed the government to engage the FBI to conduct an independent probe into the manner in which Younge died by drowning.
“And that is where law enforcement comes in. That is the part I cannot talk about. So do not be running around telling people people take money and so on. It ain’t got no way in a million years anybody can pay me for that fragile young lady’s life. Stop with the nonsense. I did my part and I did it honestly,” he said.
Dr. McCloggan continued to urge the public to discontinue violent protests, noting that everything went according to law and protocol.
“So, we going on the road and burning down–wait! Mr. Wade has already engaged the government about getting help from the FBI and Scotland Yard to have an independent probe into why it took law enforcement so many hours to discover that young lady’s body. So I’m humbly asking you guys, stop the burning, let us just let the process continue…I ain’t want we damaging we country every time we don’t agree on something,” he said.
He said while there was confirmation that water was found in Younge’s lungs, forensic pathologists cannot determine the source of the water, but this will be known following a toxicology report.
“I’m humble enough to let you guys know that is out of my reach. They have pieces of every part of the body that was examined and will be processed…We already located the lab, we already did all of this. Where we’ll be sending the bodily fluids to be thoroughly examined and tested on. Don’t let us be jumping to conclusions,” he urged.
He further re-emphasised that the family and their representatives have requested a probe independent of any influence from Guyanese law enforcement.
