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Meabh Quoirin with her daughter Nora Aisling Agnew/Family via PA Images
Nora Quoirin

Family of Nora Quoirin to challenge inquest ruling that she died by misadventure

Nora (15) went missing on a family holiday in Malaysia last year and was later found dead.

THE FAMILY OF Irish-French teenager Nora Quoirin will challenge an inquest ruling that she died by misadventure after vanishing in the Malaysian jungle while on holiday, their lawyer has said.

The body of Nora Quoirin, a 15-year-old with learning difficulties, was discovered after a massive hunt through the rainforest following her disappearance from a resort outside Kuala Lumpur in 2019.

Earlier this month, a coroner handed down a ruling of misadventure, indicating her death was accidental rather than a crime, and said no one else was involved.

But her London-based parents, who believe the schoolgirl was abducted, now plan to file a request for the ruling to be revised in the High Court, lawyer S Sakthyvell told AFP.

He said the challenge would be submitted “as soon as possible” in the court in the city of Seremban but could not confirm when it would begin.

If that fails, the family can lodge a final challenge at the court of appeal.

The teen’s mother, Meabh, told the BBC this week that “so many questions have been left unanswered” after the verdict, and she believed someone had placed her daughter’s body in the spot where it was found.

The teenager disappeared a day after her family checked in to the Dusun Resort, triggering a 10-day hunt involving hundreds of rescuers, helicopters and sniffer dogs.

Her body was found not far from the resort. Police said there was no sign of foul play while an autopsy concluded she likely died of starvation and internal bleeding.

The coroner suggested she likely wandered out of the family’s holiday chalet in the night of her own accord after a long journey from Britain to Malaysia left her disoriented.

But her parents have dismissed this theory.

© AFP 2021