KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12 — Unanswered questions remain over how disabled Irish teenager Nora Anne Quoirin disappeared last August from a Negri Sembilan resort and the subsequent discovery of her body in the surrounding jungle, her mother Meabh Jaseprine Quoirin has said.
Meabh was speaking about the family's continued pursuit of justice in the case of 15-year-old Nora Anne who had gone missing last August 4 while on holiday with her family, before being found dead about 2km away from the resort in the jungle on August 13 by volunteers on the 10th day of the massive hunt for her.
According to HuffPost UK, Nora Anne's family continue to doubt the theory that Nora Anne had woken up at night by herself, left the resort villa for a walk and got lost in the jungle. Instead, they maintain there is evidence to suggest that the teenager had been taken from the resort.
“She was incredibly, incredibly shy and cautious and had real mobility challenges. We just think it’s basically impossible for her to have negotiated complex jungle terrain,” Meabh was quoted as saying to HuffPost UK.
Meabh pointed out that it would have been difficult for Nora Anne — who had learning disabilities — to leave alone and at night.
“There are various possible ways to explain how she got to where she got to. One being that she was taken from the property itself and that’s a first line of inquiry because Nora was sleeping in a mezzanine which meant that the access to her, or for her to leave the building, was actually difficult. It was a complicated staircase that she would have struggled with, particularly with no light available.
“So that’s the first matter. The second is Nora never got up in the middle of the night, never ever, and we just don’t believe that suddenly just because she was in a different place that she would have. It would have happened for the first time,” she was quoted as saying.
HuffPost UK also noted that the family had discovered an open window downstairs in the resort villa on the morning that Nora Anne disappeared, with subsequent findings of a broken window mechanism meant that the window could be opened from outside even if it was thought to be locked.
However, HuffPost UK also noted that the family knew there was no evidence showing Nora Anne had been abducted or raped, and that there were no signs of violence on her body.
Last August, Negri Sembilan police chief Datuk Mohamad Mat Yusop said post-mortem results showed that there were no suspicions of foul play, kidnapping, abduction or rape in Nora Anne's case.
He also said that her time of death was likely no more than four days before she was found, with her cause of death being determined to be gastrointestinal bleeding due to duodenal ulcer due to stress and having gone without food for days.
Following the police's latest announcement earlier this week that the Attorney General's Chambers had classified Nora Anne's case as "no further action" based on the previous pathology report of intestinal bleeding being the cause of death, her parents have continued to press for answers.
Meabh said the family understands that an inquest would require resources, but told HuffPost UK that an inquest is still needed to find out the truth in Nora Anne's case and also stressed on the need for full diplomatic support.
According to HuffPost UK, Nora Anne's family had last month asked Ireland's foreign affairs department for aid to find answers, with a department spokesperson quoted as saying it would “continue to provide ongoing consular assistance in this case" but would not be providing further comments in line with the department's policy.
