Daily Mail - 17.08.2019

Page 17

HOW COULD

THEY HAVE

MISSED HER?

by the end and Nora was bare-

foot. I can’t imagine how she

could have walked to the place

where she was found.’

Nora’s French grandfather said

on Wednesday that it was

‘absurd’ to suggest the vulnera-

ble teenager had reached the

waterfall by herself.

Sylvain Quoirin, the mayor of

the village of Venizy, north-cen-

tral France, added: ‘It is com-

pletely unthinkable that she

should have gone out on her own

at night. You can completely

exclude that possibility.’

Nora had a smaller than average

brain and struggled to act inde-

pendently, having been born with

Patau’s syndrome, or holoprosen-

cephaly. The condition left her

struggling to complete everyday

tasks and with limited speech,

walking ability and co-ordination.

Last night, Malaysian police were

said to be re-examining reports

that a villager saw a ‘white girl’

swimming in the area on the day

Nora disappeared.

The witness was riding a motor-

bike when he spotted the girl at

7pm on Sunday, August 4.

Yesterday Nora’s heartbroken

parents said they were ‘struggling

to understand the events of the

last ten days’ as they prepared to

bring her body home to Britain.

After meeting Malaysia’s deputy

prime minister, Meabh and Sebast-

ien Quoirin said: ‘Our beautiful,

innocent girl died in extremely

complex circumstances and we are

hoping that soon we will have more

answers to our many questions.’

Detectives say Nora starved to

death after a week in the jungle

alone, but from the day she went

missing, her family expressed fears

she could have been abducted.

The ravine where she was found

• which is only 1.6 miles from the
  lodge where her family was stay-
  ing – was repeatedly searched by
  rescue teams during the first
  seven days of her disappearance.
  Police have been unable to ade-
  quately explain why she was
  missed. It also remains unex-
  plained why she was not wearing
  the underwear she had on when
  she was last seen by her parents
  at bedtime on August 3.
  A former senior police officer
  advising the family has appealed
  for authorities to retain 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. We know why Nora

died, in simple terms from starva-

tion, we know where she ended

up, but we don’t necessarily know

how she got there.’

‘I am not trying to pour fuel on

the speculative fire but all of those

things need to be considered.’

A Malaysian police chief has said

officers had uncovered no evi-

dence of abduction or kidnapping

‘for the time being’, but Mr Gam-

ble said it could not be ruled out.

He added that the Quoirin

family needed to be given ‘the

time and the space to grieve with

dignity’ as they ‘bring this very,

very special child home’. The

family said Nora will be buried

‘close to her loving families in

France and Ireland’.

They also thanked Malaysian

authorities and search parties for

their efforts.

Nora, from south London, had

travelled to the Dusun resort –

about 40 miles south-east of Kuala

Lumpur – on August 3 with her

parents, sister Innes, 12, and

brother Maurice, eight.

After going to sleep with her sib-

lings in an upstairs bedroom, she

was discovered missing by her

French father shortly after 8am

the next day.

[email protected]

Local expert casts further

doubt over police theory

NOrA Quoirin could not have

reached the ravine where her body

was discovered by herself, a mem-

ber of the Malaysian search team

said last night.

The volunteer said the barefoot

15-year-old, who had suffered physical

and mental disabilities since birth,

would have found it impossible to

cross the arduous jungle terrain.

Displaying intimate knowledge of the

area surrounding the remote Lata Berem-

bun waterfall where Nora’s naked body

was found on Tuesday, the volunteer

described treacherous gradients and dense

vegetation surrounding the scene.

His testimony generates yet more

doubts over the police theory that Nora

reached the site alone after wandering off

By Barbara Davies

and Jemma Buckley

Grief: Parents Meabh and Sebastien Quoirin

Tragic holiday: London schoolgirl Nora Quoirin, 15

Questions: Members of the Malaysian search team

From yesterday’s Mail

Searcher:

Nora did

not get to

waterfall

by herself

from her family’s holiday chalet in the

dead of night.

‘Nora couldn’t have got there by herself,’

the volunteer said.

‘I struggled to walk. The path is difficult

even for an able-bodied person.

‘Dense vegetation snags your feet.

The average gradient of the slopes

where Nora was found range from 20 to

40 per cent. You have to cross two rea-

sonably deep streams to reach the area

where she was found. The terrain by the

stream is very slippery. The roots and

rocks are wet. My boots were destroyed

Daily Mail, Saturday, August 17, 2019
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