Nora’s family seek more answers to jungle death
● No evidence teen was abducted or kidnapped, say Malaysian police
The family of Nora Quoirin have said they hope to have “more answers to our many questions” over the death of their daughter in a Malaysian jungle.
The 15-year-old’s naked body was discovered on Tuesday a mile from the holiday resort where the family had been staying.
Malaysian police say the London teenager starved to death and there was no evidence of abduction or kidnapping “for the time being”.
After meeting Malaysia’s deputy prime minister and minister for the state yesterday, her family said they were “struggling to understand the events of the last 10 days”.
The statement, issued on the family’s behalf by the Lucie Blackman Trust, added: “The initial post-mortem results have given some information that helps us to understand Nora’s cause of death. But our beautiful innocent girl died in extremely complex circumstances and we are hoping that soon we will have more answers to our many questions.”
A former police officer advising the family has appealed for authorities to keep an “open mind” about the cause of death.
Jim Gamble said: “The family themselves have always had a question mark of whether there was any criminal activity and I think everyone should retain an open mind.”
Malaysian police said Nora probably spent a week in the jungle on her own.
The teenager, who was born withthebraindefectholoprosencephaly and was described by her family as “vulnerable”, went missing from of Dusun on 4 August.
She died between two and four days before her body was found, a post-mortem examination revealed.
Mr Gamble said: “In the villa we do know that the downstairs window was broken so it couldn’t have been locked by the family and could have been opened from outside.
“We know why Nora died, in simple terms from starvation, we know where she ended up, but we don’t necessarily know how she got there.”
The family said they will bring Nora’s body home “where she will finally be laid to rest, close to her loving families in France and Ireland”.
They thanked Malaysian authorities and search parties for their efforts.
“Tragically, as we know, this wasn’t enough to save Nora,” they said.
Nora lived in London and was the daughter of Frenchirish parents Sebastien and Meabh Quoirin.
State police chief Mohamad Mat Yusop said the postmortem examination had found no evidence that the teenager had been abducted or raped.