Man appears in Malaysian court over Nora Quoirin 'rape' tweet
Nora Quoirin died during a family holiday in Malaysia but police say there were no signs she was attacked.
Tuesday 20 August 2019 15:27, UK
A man has appeared in a Malaysian court accused of tweeting that Nora Quoirin was raped by an indigenous tribe before she died.
Nora, a 15-year-old who lived in London, went missing earlier this month during a family holiday at a jungle resort in the country.
Her body was found 10 days later, without her clothing and just over a mile from where she went missing.
A preliminary post-mortem examination found she died from internal bleeding, thought to be caused by hunger and stress.
Police say they discovered no signs that she was attacked or sexually assaulted.
Muhammad Zikri Ibrahim, allegedly using an account called Zikri Armstrong, is accused of tweeting on 14 August that Nora had been raped by Orang Asli.
Orang Asli are the indigenous people of Peninsular Malaysia, also known as Malaya or West Malaysia.
Ibrahim pleaded not guilty to a charge of intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of the peace, according to the New Straits Times.
The news website said that, if convicted, he faces a possible two-year jail term, a fine, or both.
Ibrahim's lawyer asked that bail was set low, as Ibrahim is due to get married in December and his father - a local councillor - was at court and prepared to vouch for him.
The court settled on a bail of RM6000 (£1,186).
The case will be recalled on 19 September.
Nora's family said last week they were hoping for "more answers to our many questions" over her death, including results of toxicology and DNA analysis from the post-mortem.
Early in the investigation they said they believed she had been abducted, insisting the shy teenager would not have wandered off into the night by herself.
Nora was born with brain defect holoprosencephaly and had limited abilities in areas such as reading and writing.
After she was found, her family said in a statement that she had been the "truest, most precious girl and we love her infinitely".