SEREMBAN: The family of Nora Anne Quoirin (pic) have expressed their gratitude to the Malaysian authorities for helping conduct a search for her, but hope to get more answers to their many unanswered questions.
In a statement issued through the Lucie Blackman Trust, the Quoirins said although the post-mortem results had given some information that helped them understand Nora Anne’s cause of death, they were struggling to understand what truly happened to the 15-year-old London schoolgirl whose unclothed remains were found on Tuesday – 10 days after she went missing from a resort in Pantai Hills here.
“Our beautiful innocent girl died in extremely complex circumstances and we are hoping that soon we will have more answers to our many questions.
“We are still struggling to understand the events of the last 10 days, ” they said.
The Quoirins also thanked the Malaysian authorities for their ongoing support and cooperation with international governments and police as criminal and missing persons investigations continue.
The family expressed their gratitude through Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail who visited them at the resort yesterday morning.
“We had the opportunity to thank them for everything that the Malaysian government, police, search-and-rescue teams, local people and volunteers have done to help us.
“Tragically, as we know, this wasn’t enough to save Nora Anne, ” they said.
The family will be taking Nora Anne’s remains back to London to be laid to rest and close to her families in France and Northern Ireland.
The charity said investigations would continue in France as it was standard practice in overseas cases involving French citizens.
“Whilst investigations are underway we continue to urge an end to public speculation” it said.
The family expressed hope that anyone with information in the case will forward it to the authorities.
The charity also confirmed that no payments were made in respect of the reward in connection with the discovery of Nora Anne’s body.
The authorities found Nora Anne’s remains next to a stream some 2.5km from the resort she was staying in at 1.57pm on Tuesday.
Due to the hilly terrain, her remains had to be winched up by helicopter and taken to the hospital for the post-mortem.
The teenager disappeared from the resort she was staying with her family on Aug 4.
Nora Anne had checked into the property with her parents Sebastian Marie Philipe and Meabh, and siblings Innes Julia and Maurice Arthure a day earlier.
However, she was not found in her room she shared with her siblings the following morning. A window in the room that could only be opened from the inside was open.
Meanwhile, Dr Wan Azizah expressed her gratitude to all parties involved in the search.
She said that based on a detailed briefing by state police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Mohamad Mat Yusop, the authorities had done their best to find Nora Anne.
“Her death was tragic and I wish to extend my condolences to the family, ” she told reporters after the briefing at the Pantai police station.
On Thursday, Malaysian authorities ruled out foul play in Nora Anne’s death, with forensic experts finding that her death was most likely caused by upper gastrointestinal tract bleeding, following a nine-hour autopsy.
DCP Mohamad said Nora Anne was neither raped nor was there anything to show that she was abducted or subjected to any form of violence, and added that the intestinal bleeding could have been caused by prolonged starvation or stress.
He said Nora could have been dead for two or three days before she was found.
In a related development, France has expressed its gratitude to Malaysia for the relentless efforts taken by the country to locate Nora Anne.
French Minister of State attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, conveyed the message through a telephone call yesterday to Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Marzuki Yahya, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“Marzuki extended to Lemoyne Malaysia’s sympathies and deepest condolences on the demise of Nora Anne, ” it said.
