A virtual inquest into the death of teenager Nóra Quoirin, whose body was found near a Malaysian jungle resort where she vanished while on holiday, has ended with a verdict due within a month.
The 15-year-old, whose mother is from Belfast, vanished from an eco-resort near Seremban, about 40 miles south of Kuala Lumpur, on August 3 last year.
Her body was found in a palm-oil plantation around 1.5 miles away on August 13.
Malaysian Coroner Maimoonah Aid is due to make a ruling on December 31 or January 4. Since August, a total of 49 witnesses have given evidence over 24 days via video conferencing due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Nóra was only wearing her underwear when she went missing but her body was found naked. It was unclear what happened to her underwear, but police told the inquest the post-mortem showed no sign she was sexually assaulted. Police also ruled out any criminal activity and said there was no indication Nóra had been abducted.
Police believe she climbed out of a window on her own. But Nora's parents said she was likely to have been kidnapped because she had mental and physical disabilities and would not have wandered off on her own.
A British pathologist who performed a second post-mortem on Nora's body in the United Kingdom said, while giving evidence, that he agreed with the Malaysian findings that she died of intestinal bleeding due to starvation and stress. However, he said he could not fully rule out sexual assault due to severe body decomposition.
The Quoirin family has sued the resort owner for alleged negligence. They said in their lawsuit that there was no security at the resort and that the window had a broken latch and was found ajar the morning Nora disappeared.
