.JPG "Teresa Kok speaks to reporters during a press conference at the Ministry of Primary Industries January 3, 2019. u00e2u20acu2022 Picture by Miera Zulyana")
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 5 — The authorities failed to consider possible parental neglect when investigating the death of special needs teenager Nora Anne Quoirin, claims Seputeh MP Teresa Kok.
Expressing disappointment at the Coroner’s Court verdict yesterday of Quoirin’s death being a misadventure, she said it is untenable to conclude that no one is responsible for the death of the 15-year old.
“Indeed the verdict has thrown lots of doubts and questions than answers from all the facts adduced. Additionally the Coroner had missed the golden opportunity to pursue the stark and undisputed material angle of parental negligence,” Kok said in a statement.
Kok asked why the court did not look into the plausibility of parental negligence, citing several apparent contradictions and unusual circumstances that were also reported in the news.
“Nora’s parents have always claimed that Nora could not walk unaided for not more than 20 feet, but this statement was contradicted when the video clip evidence of the close-circuit television (CCTV) recording at KLIA showed that Nora could even lug her own luggage and walked unaided for a distance far more longer than 20 feet.
“She did not show any sign of walking difficulties. The statement of her parents in the inquest seems contradictory to the statement of the police in the Coroner’s Court,” she said.
Kok also pointed out that Nora’s parents’ statement had misled the police in their initial search for the teenager, as Nilai police chief Supt Mohd Nor Marzukee was reported as saying that the police decided the search area was to be significantly expanded from between four and six square kilometres previously to a 20 square kilometres.
“The radius towards the nearby Gunung Berembun was only expanded on the eighth day of Nora’s disappearance, after the police have watched the CCTV footage of KLIA which indicated that Nora can walk unaided for some distance.
“The question is why did her parents lie to the police? If at all, the parents did not tell the truth to the police right from day one. Hence, one can only draw a logical conclusion that the police has been misled, from day one and that has clearly jeopardized the police investigations and search strategies.” she said.
Kok said it sounded incredible that a timid girl with learning difficulties could wander off from the Villa alone into the jungle, likely naked and with no footwear.
She also cited Irish child activist and lawyer Anne Brennan’s argument that Quoirin’s family may have been complicit in the teenager’s disappearance and death, adding that it should not be ruled out.
“Premised on the above, I therefore strongly urge the police to re-investigate this most unfortunate incident of poor Nora from all angles,” Kok said.
Quoirin, a French-Irish national, disappeared from the Dusun resort in Negri Sembilan in August 2019 during a holiday with her family, which resulted in a 10-day hunt involving helicopters, sniffer dogs and hundreds of searchers.
Her body was discovered close to the jungle retreat and an autopsy found that she had died of internal bleeding linked to starvation after spending about a week in the dense rainforest.
The police had ruled out abduction as a motive, saying they found no signs of foul play but Quoirin’s family questioned the findings and insisted she had never before left them of her own accord.
In yesterday’s verdict, Coroner Maimoonah Aid said the injuries sustained by Quoirin was probably self-inflicted and did not involve any third party.
A fortnight after Quoirin’s disappearance and several days after her remains were found, Brennan claimed in a Facebook post that the teenager’s family was doing everything in their power to subvert the course of justice.
She found the family’s decision to leave Malaysia with Nora Anne’s body highly suspicious, adding that her parents Meabh and Sebastien left almost immediately after being guaranteed that they would not be investigated for any involvement in their daughter’s disappearance and death.
Brennan also claimed the Quoirins somehow convinced the Malaysian authorities to abandon the murder inquiry and release Nora’s body without producing the necessary forensic and toxicology reports that form part of every standard criminal death investigation.
