The Nora Quoirin case: Parents believe there was a 'criminal element'

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 18): The parents of Nora Quoirin, the Irish teenager who went missing from a Negeri Sembilan resort and was later found dead back in August have said they believe there was a “criminal element” involved in her death.

Speaking to the Republic of Ireland's state broadcaster RTE yesterday, Meabh and Sebastian Quoirin now said they want “truth and justice” for their daughter Nora.

Meabh said during the exclusive interview with RTE that it was “impossible physically mentally to imagine that she could have got any distance at all”.

“For us something very complex happened. We have insisted from the beginning that we believe there was a criminal element to what happened,” she added.

Nora went missing on Aug 4, a day after she and her family checked in at the Dusun rainforest resort near Seremban for a holiday.

The 15-year-old was discovered dead beside a stream about 2.5km from the resort after a 10-day search. The Malaysian Police stated that there was no suspicion Nora was the victim of foul play.

"And crucially we were struggling because it was difficult to get the resources in place fast enough to explore a criminal angle.

"And, you know, we believe that crucial time and evidence was lost in the beginning," said Meabh.

"And while a post-mortem when it eventually comes through may give us answers and has already given us some basic answers around what caused Nora's death, it doesn't explain any of how she possibly could have got to where she was found.

"And we really believe that that is going to be difficult to get the whole truth on but it's important to try," she added.

Nora's father Sebastien said they will be “pushing for an inquest into Nora's death to take place in Malaysia”.

"We are determined to have this inquest. We’re hopeful that the French, the Irish and British governments will support us.

"I think it's a basic human right and democratic duty to find some truth and justice to what happened," he told the broadcaster.