British teen Nora Quoirin's family says someone tampered with her body, seeks fresh investigation into death
The grandfather of Nora Quoirin, the 15-year-old London student found dead near a resort in Malaysia -- believes that “someone tampered with her body” and she was dumped at the waterfall in a bid to "get rid of her."
However, a post mortem found that Nora had died from internal bleeding in her intestine after an ulcer burst following a period of prolonged hunger and anxiety. Her naked body was found around 2km from the resort she was staying with her parents after going missing for nine days.
Law enforcement were urged by 67-year-old Sylvain Quoirin to carry out a fresh investigation into the teenager's death so they can find out the "truth" about what happened to her, The Sun reports.
According to the heartbroken grandfather, the family still has several unanswered questions with regards to Nora's death.
Family lawyer Charles Morel said that "criminal involvement" was not something that could be ruled out as it was highly unlikely that the 15-year-old left the family lodge by herself.
In a conversation with Sky News, child protection expert Jim Gamble said there were a lot of questions unanswered surrounding the disappearance and death of Nora in Malaysia. Gamble has been advising the family since the tragedy.
"She wasn’t there yet [during previous searches]. Someone put her there," retired businessman Sylvain told The Irish Times. “Can you imagine her walking 2.5km, naked and barefoot, over rocks, in the middle of the night? For me, that’s absurd."
“Do you think she would go walking around at night? For me, it is obviously a criminal case, by default. She could not have wandered," he added.
"The family is just concerned to find out the truth. There are many unanswered questions and we cannot exclude criminal involvement," Morel said.
“Nora was found where people have already searched. If she was alive for that long, then it is possible that she met somebody," he continued. "We cannot exclude anything at this stage. In view of the importance of Malaysia’s image for tourism, the authorities may tend to favor the theory of a disappearance over the criminal hypothesis.”
Nora Quoirin was vacationing in Malaysia with her parents Meabh, 45, and Sebastian, 47, as well as her sister Innes, 12, and brother Maurice, eight, at the time of the incident.
It is believed the South London teenager may have been wandering around in the jungle alone, frightened, and starving for almost a week after her disappearance on August 4.
"We have to be very cautious about the interpretation of the first result of the autopsy," Morel told Irish broadcaster RTE. "The risk is that if you exclude the criminal hypothesis, it's too early to say that."
According to him, Nora was "very shy, dependent on her mother and it’s not in her temperament to go out in the night after a long trip in a place she doesn't know, in the jungle."
"And even the place where she was found, two kilometers from the resort, very strange that she could go there by herself alone so we cannot exclude the criminal hypothesis," he added. "The family still finds it difficult to understand that she would have gone into the jungle on her own."
The family is now desperately waiting for the results of DNA analysis, Morel said.
"I know the family is very traumatized. They loved their daughter, she was an angel," he said. "But they are now concerned about the truth because they owe that to Nora, what happened, how did she die."
He also stated that Malaysian police "may tend to favor the theory of a disappearance over the criminal hypothesis" to keep up Malaysia's image for tourism.
That said, French and Irish law enforcement were satisfied with the work of the local pathology team at Kuala Lumpur Hospital.
Malaysian authorities found no evidence of foul play and the post-mortem also found she had not been sexually abused, Negeri Sembilan Police Chief, Mohamad Mat Yusop, said today.
Speaking to the Malay Mail, the officer revealed the area where Nora was found and said she may have been moving around while rescue teams were trying to locate her whereabouts.
“We will continue to investigate and find out what really happened,” he said.
Nora was born with a brain defect called holoprosencephaly. It is believed she had been dead for up to three days before search crews found her in a spot they had already examined. French prosecutors had joined the probe prior to post mortem findings to investigate whether the teen was kidnapped before her death. They were obligated to join the investigation as Nora's father is French.
Speaking to Le Parisien, Morel said the parents were convinced her disappearance had "criminal" origins and so filed a complaint "for kidnapping." Now, the devastated family is working on bringing her body back to the UK.