Parents of girl found in Malaysia jungle say case has ‘criminal element’
DUBLIN: The parents of a Franco-Irish teenager whose body was found in the Malaysian jungle said they believe there was a "criminal element" to her disappearance, which police classified as a missing-person case.
The unclothed body of 15-year-old Nora Quoirin was discovered in August after a 10-day hunt through dense rainforest, in a ravine about 2.5km from the resort where she had been staying.
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READ: Malaysian police say Irish teen Nora Quoirin probably died from hunger, stress
READ: Nora Quoirin: A timeline of events
Meabh and Sebastian Quoirin told Irish broadcaster RTE they could not imagine that Nora, who had learning difficulties, would have been able to wander that far.
The body of Nora Quoirin, 15, was discovered on Aug 13, 2019 in a ravine in dense rainforest after a 10-day hunt involving hundreds of people, helicopters and sniffer dogs. (Photo: AFP/FAMILY HANDOUT)
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"For us, something very complex happened. We have insisted from the beginning that we believe there was a criminal element to what happened," they said in an interview published on Tuesday (Dec 17).
The results of an autopsy found Nora likely starved and died of internal bleeding after about a week in the jungle, police had said in August, adding there was no indication she was abducted or sexually assaulted.
But her parents said Tuesday they were seeking "truth and justice" and that it was "impossible physically, mentally to imagine that she could have got any distance at all".
"We're struggling because it was difficult to get resources in place fast enough to investigate a criminal angle," they told the broadcaster.
