No foul play involved, say police

SEREMBAN: The parents of Nora Anne Quoirin are free to leave the country after forensic experts ruled out foul play in the death of their 15-year-old daughter, say the police.

Her remains were found about 10 days after she disappeared from a resort near here while holidaying in the country.

State police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Mohamad Mat Yusop said a team of pathologists, who took nine hours to complete the post-mortem, ruled that she died due to upper gastrointestinal bleeding, probably caused by prolonged starvation or stress.

“We will not stop her parents from flying home.

“They are also free to decide when they want to collect her remains (from the Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital), ” he told reporters at the state police contingent headquarters here yesterday.

DCP Mohamad was answering queries if the police would require Nora Anne’s parents Sebastian Marie Philipe and Meabh Jaseprine Quoirin to remain in the country to assist in its investigation.

He said the forensic experts also found that the teenager, who went missing from The Dusun resort on Aug 4, was not sexually assaulted.

“The pathologists found that she was not raped as her hymen was intact.

“As of now, we can conclude that there was no forced abduction or if she was subjected to any form of violence, ” he said.

DCP Mohamad said the team also concluded that Nora Anne could have been dead between two and three days before her body was found.

“There were no injuries to her body, except for a bruise on her leg.

“But this was not the cause of her death, ” he said.

DCP Mohamad said pathologists also took samples from Nora Anne’s remains to be sent to the Chemistry Department for further tests.

Asked about a foreign report that French authorities have opened a criminal probe into Nora Anne’s death, DCP Mohamad said he was not aware of it.

He said that investigators from France, the United Kingdom and Ireland were already assisting the local authorities in the investigation.

According to the report, the Paris prosecutor had opened a criminal investigation into the case for kidnapping on Aug 9.

French prosecutors regularly conduct investigations on cases involving its nationals abroad.

Nora Anne’s mother is from Ireland while her father is French.

On Tuesday, a search and rescue team found Nora Anne’s remains near a stream, some 2.5km away from the resort.

The teenager with learning difficulties had checked in with her parents and siblings Innes Julia and Maurice Arthure on Aug 3.

However, she was not found in the room she shared with her siblings the following morning.

A window in the room was open.

DCP Mohamad also said police was looking for an individual, who alleged that an Orang Asli had raped Nora Anne and dumped her body in the stream.

“We have lodged a report and are tracing the owner of the Twitter account, ” he said.

It could not be immediately established what Nora Anne’s parents planned to do following the autopsy.

When contacted, their family lawyer Sankara N. Nair said he had yet to receive instructions from them.

On Wednesday, Sankara said the family would only decide on the next course of action after the post-mortem.

The four-member forensic team were led by Kuala Lumpur Hospital forensic pathologist Dr Siew Sheue Feng, Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital forensic pathologist Dr Hanif Mohammad, Dr Aidora Saedon from the Chemistry Department and Sufian Arshad Ahmad from the Forensic Department.