Nóra Quoirin: 'Compelling evidence' of abduction

An inquest into the death of a teenager who went missing during a holiday in Malaysia has left several questions unanswered, her family has said.

Nóra Quoirin, whose mother is from Belfast, disappeared from her room at the Dusun resort on 4 August 2019.

Her body was found 10 days later about 1.6 miles (2.5km) away.

Earlier this month a coroner ruled that she died as a result of misadventure, but her family said they were "utterly disappointed" with the verdict.

In an interview with Irish broadcaster RTÉ, Nóra's mother Meabh said there is "compelling evidence" that her daughter was abducted.

Nóra, who was born to Irish-French parents, lived with her family in London and was understood to be in Malaysia on an Irish passport.

She was born with holoprosencephaly, a disorder which affects brain development.

Since her disappearance, her parents have believed that she was abducted. They have always maintained that wandering off was not something they could imagine their daughter doing.

Meabh Quoirin told RTÉ: "One of the most compelling things that we found out was that in a relatively small area, the plantation where Nóra was eventually found, there was vast numbers of specialist personnel deployed to find Nóra.

"Not only that, on four different occasions, trained personnel went to the plantation area and searched it and, in fact, some officers were even in the precise location Nóra's body was recovered.

"They had all reported that there were no signs of human life at any point. That for us is compelling evidence to say that she was not there by herself."

Mrs Quoirin added that "there was a lack of evidence around DNA and prints".

She said that when the family went to the inquest, "we had a lot of unanswered questions and while many of those questions cannot be answered, we actually found out a great deal about what went on during those 10 days when Nóra was missing".

"In fact we felt it really strengthened our case, our belief, that Nóra was abducted and we found some compelling evidence to support our view on that."

Mrs Quoirin added that her daughter "was not physically or mentally capable" of leaving the chalet via the window.

"Not only that - we also learned that none of her fingerprints could be found on the window and yet other unidentifiable prints were found on that window."