Nora Anne Quoirin inquest: No indication London teenager was abducted, Malaysian police say
An inquest into the death of the 15-year-old has got under way a year after her body was found near a holiday resort in Malaysia.
Monday 24 August 2020 19:26, UK
Malaysian police say there is no evidence Nora Anne Quoirin was abducted from the resort she was staying at with her parents, an inquest into her death has heard.
The London teenager's disappearance from her family's cottage while on holiday at the Dusun eco-resort in southern Negeri Sembilan state on 4 August last year sparked a massive search.
The 15-year-old's naked body was discovered beside a stream in a palm oil estate on 13 August - around 1.6 miles (2.5km) from the resort.
On the opening day of the inquest, coroner Maimoonah Aid said the hearing was aimed at determining when Nora died, the cause of her death, how she came to her death and if anyone was criminally involved.
The first witness, Negeri Sembilan police chief Mohamed Mat Yusop, said the investigation showed no criminal element.
He said there was no indication Nora was abducted and no ransom demand, and that officers believe she climbed out of a window on her own.
The post-mortem examination showed she had succumbed to intestinal bleeding from starvation and stress, he told the Seremban Coroner's Court.
Nora's Irish mother, Meabh, and French father, Sebastien, say their daughter was kidnapped because she had mental and physical disabilities and could not have wandered off on her own.
Giving evidence via video conference, resort owner Haanim Bamadhaj said Nora's parents had told her the teenager only had on her underwear when she went missing and that she would hide when she was frightened.
Ms Haanim, whose house faces the Quorin's cottage, said the resort was peaceful on the night before Nora went missing.
She added that her dog, who would bark if there were outsiders, was also quiet.
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Ms Haanim also acknowledged that a window of the cottage that was found ajar the morning Nora disappeared was faulty and could be opened from the outside.
But she said there have never been any criminal break-ins in her property since the resort opened 11 years ago.
Earlier this month, the coroner visited the resort and place where the body was found, and the inquest is set to run until 4 September and involve 64 witnesses.
Nora's parents could not attend the inquest due to the coronavirus pandemic but will give evidence via video link, their lawyer said.
A British doctor who conducted a second post-mortem on Nora's body is also expected to give evidence remotely.
The Quiorin family has sued the resort owner for alleged negligence and claim in their lawsuit that there was no security at the resort and that the cottage window was found ajar with a broken latch on the morning Nora went missing.
The lawyer representing the resort, Gurdial Singh Nijar, told reporters after the first day of the inquest that the incident was unfortunate but "there was no culpability" on the resort owner's part.