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KUALA LUMPUR: A French-Irish teenager with learning difficulties died of “misadventure” after disappearing in the Malaysian jungle on a family vacation and there were no signs she was murdered or sexually assaulted, a coroner ruled Monday (Jan.4 ).
The body of 15-year-old Nora Quoirin was discovered without clothes after a jungle hunt following her disappearance from a resort on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur in 2019.
Police insisted there was no foul play and an autopsy in Malaysia found that he likely starved and died of internal bleeding after days in the jungle.
But her parents believe that she was kidnapped, saying that the teenager would never have left through the window of the chalet where they were staying in the dead of night, as the police believe.
READ: Nora Quoirin: A Chronology of Events
However, following an investigation in Malaysia, coroner Maimoonah Aid said there were no signs that the teenager had been murdered or sexually assaulted, and ruled that she died of “misadventure”.
“After hearing all the relevant evidence, I ruled that no one was involved in Nora Anne’s death,” he told a Seremban city court.
“It is more likely that he died by accident.”
The teenager probably left the family accommodation “on her own and subsequently got lost in the abandoned palm oil plantation,” she said.
LEE: Malaysian police say Irish teenager Nora Quoirin probably died of hunger and stress
The investigation, which ran from late August to December, heard from more than 40 witnesses and was broadcast online due to the coronavirus pandemic.
MASS SEARCH
During the proceedings, the police reiterated their opinion that the teenager had wandered away from the Dusun compound alone in August 2019, a day after registering for a holiday with her London-based family.
They defended their approach, insisting that a thorough search was carried out.
But her parents, who testified via video link from Britain, painted a different picture, strongly criticizing authorities for their response to their daughter’s disappearance.
Her mother, Meabh, said police were slow to launch a full-scale search and did not take her concerns about possible criminal involvement seriously.
Her father, Sebastien, also said he heard mysterious “muffled noises” coming from the chalet on the night of the schoolgirl’s disappearance, fueling the family’s belief that she was abducted.
READ: Locals fear that no one will visit Malaysian village after Irish teenager Nora Quoirin’s death
The search lasted 10 days and expanded to include hundreds of rescuers, helicopters and sniffer dogs, before the body of the teenager was found in a ravine not far from the complex.
The 5ha site is next to a thick jungle patch and in the foothills of a mountain range.
The teenager had a condition known as holoprosencephaly, where the brain does not develop normally. He had limited verbal communication and could only write a few words.
He attended a school for young people with learning difficulties.
