‘I NEED THE TRUTH’
Nora Quoirin’s grandad insists ‘someone tampered with Brit teen’s body’ and believes sinister forces dumped her at waterfall to ‘get rid of her’
NORA Quoirin’s grandad has claimed that “someone tampered with her body” and believes she was dumped at the waterfall by sinister forces in an attempt to “get rid of her”.
Sylvain Quoirin, 67, has urged police to carry out a fresh criminal investigation into the 15-year-old’s death to uncover the “truth” about what happened to the British teenager.
8
8
Sylvain Quoirin says the family have unanswered questions about Nora's death.
Charles Morel, the family’s lawyer said that “criminal involvement” could not be ruled out, adding that it was highly unlikely Nora left the family’s lodge by herself.
Child protection expert Jim Gamble who has been advising the family of Nora Quoirin told Sky News that there are still questions to be answered about the disappearance and death of the 15-year-old in Malaysia.
Retired businessman Sylvain told : "She wasn’t there yet [during previous searches]. Someone put her there.
“Can you imagine her walking 2.5km, naked and barefoot, over rocks, in the middle of the night? For me, that’s absurd.";
He added: “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.”
Mr Morel said: The family is just concerned to find out the truth. There are many unanswered questions and we cannot exclude criminal involvement.
“Nora was found where people have already searched. If she was alive for that long, then it is possible that she met somebody.
“We cannot exclude anything at this stage. In view of the importance of Malaysia’s image for tourism, the authorities may tend to favour the theory of a disappearance over the criminal hypothesis.”
Nora Quoirin had travelled to Malaysia from her home in South London with her parents Meabh, 45, and Sebastian, 47, as well as her sister Innes, 12, and brother Maurice, eight, for a family holiday but then disappeared.
Nora - who has learning difficulties - may have been wandering around the jungle alone, frightened and starving for a week after she vanished on August 4.
8
The desperate search for Nora
August 4: Nora is reported missing after her father discovers she is not in her bedroom at the Dusun Resort at around 8am on Sunday.
The window was also open in the room that Nora had been sharing with her two siblings.
August 5: Missing persons charity The Lucie Blackman Trust says that Malaysian police are treating Nora's disappearance as a potential abduction, but officers deny there is any foul play involved.
August 6: Nora's family say they believe her to have been abducted.
"She never goes anywhere by herself. We have no reason to believe she wandered off and is lost."
August 7: Police say they are analysing unidentified fingerprints an open window and in a downstairs hall found in the family's hotel suite.
August 9: Police investigate whether footprints found in the forest where Nora went missing belong to the missing teen. Her family say she wouldn't have wandered off on her own.
August 10: Nora's family thank the search teams involved since the teenager's disappearance.
August 11: Hundreds of rescuers still involved in the search operation a week after she disappeared.
August 12: A visibly emotional Mrs Quoirin makes a further appeal for her daughter to return home.
"Nora is our first child. She has been vulnerable since the day she was born.
"She is so precious to us and our hearts are breaking. We are appealing to anyone who has information about Nora to help us find her."
A reward of £10,000 - donated by an anonymous Belfast business - is made available for information leading to Nora's safe return.
August 13: A body is found and police said Nora's parents confirmed it was her .
August 14: An initial post-mortem examination inconclusive
August 15: Post-mortem finds that Nora died of intestinal bleeding after a stomach ulcer burst, probably caused by hunger and stress.
He told Irish broadcaster RTE: "We have to be very cautious about the interpretation of the first result of the autopsy.
"The risk is that if you exclude the criminal hypothesis, it's too early to say that."
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", said Morel.
He added: "And even the place where she was found, two kilometres from the resort, very strange that she could go there by herself alone so we cannot exclude the criminal hypothesis.
"The family still finds it difficult to understand that she would have gone into the jungle on her own."
Mr Morel said the family are waiting for the results of DNA analysis, which they hope to have quickly.
"I know the family is very traumatised. They loved their daughter, she was an angel," he said.
8
"But they are now concerned about the truth because they owe that to Nora, what happened, how did she die."
The family's lawyer also stated that Malaysian authorities "may tend to favour the theory of a disappearance over the criminal hypothesis" in lieu of Malaysia's good image for tourism.
The post-mortem ruled the teen had died from internal bleeding in her intestine after a stomach ulcer burst, following a period of prolonged hunger and stress.
Both the Irish and French police who observed the postmortem were satisfied with the work of the local pathology team led by Siew Sheue Feng from the Kuala Lumpur Hospital.
8
How stomach ulcers can lead to death
When a stomach ulcer bursts - known by the medical term perforation - it can prove life-threatening.
The ulcer eats through the stomach or intestinal lining and that allows the bacteria that live in the stomach to escape and infect the lining of the abdomen - the peritoneum.
This is known as peritonitis.
Peritonitis can very quickly spread and trigger sepsis or blood poisoning, before spreading to other organs and causing organ failure.
If left untreated, it can prove fatal.
Ulcers can be caused by a range of things, from H.pylori bacteria in the digestive tract to certain medications, including non-steroidal anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen.
While it's not a direct cause, extreme stress can make an underlying ulcer worse and make complications like perforation more likely, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Negeri Sembilan Police Chief, Mohamad Mat Yusop, today said authorities had found no evidence of foul play and said the post-mortem also found she had not been sexually abused.
The officer told that the area where Nora was eventually found had been searched and she may have been moving around as rescue teams tried to locate her.
“We will continue to investigate and find out what really happened,” he said.
"Vulnerable" Nora - who was born with the brain defect holoprosencephaly - is believed to have been dead for up to three days before being found in a spot search crews had already examined.
Prior to the post-mortem findings, French prosecutors had joined the probe - as Nora's father is French - to investigate whether the teen was kidnapped before her death.
MOST READ IN WORLD NEWS
Mr Morel that the parents had filed a complaint “for kidnapping" and were convinced her disappearance is of "criminal" origin.
Nora's family are now making plans to bring her body back to the UK.
State Women, Family Affairs and Welfare Committee chairman Nicole Tan Lee Koon said Nora's mum had conveyed her wishes to the country's Deputy Prime Minister Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah, according to .
8
8
8
Lawyer representing Nora Quoirin's family says her passing is highly traumatic
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368. You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.
Topics