KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 8 — Nora Anne Quoirin’s family insistence she may have been abducted instead of wandering off on her own during her disappearance from The Dusun resort in Negri Sembilan last year was not meant to divert investigators in their search, a former police liaison officer told the Coroner Court today.
Assistant Commissioner Nik Ezanee Mohd Faisal, who was the police international relations liaison officer to the Quoirin family at the time of incident, testified that the family had been under tremendous stress over the disappearance of a 15-year-old special needs child.
“I don’t think they did on purpose. They are just concerned. They just couldn’t accept that she could have walked by herself.
“At the point of time, in their mind somebody had abducted Nora,” he said, further agreeing that the family was adamant the teenager would not have gone off by herself willingly.
Nik Ezanee had earlier disclosed to the court of his involvement with the case from August 7, 2019 onwards after obtaining instructions from then deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Mazlan Mansor to remain at the scene throughout the search-and-rescue operation as a police liaison to the respective embassies and family present there.
At the time, Nik Ezanee said he was informed by the family of their concerns over the possibility of abduction and how Quoirin could not walk more than 20 feet (six metres) without assistance based on her mother’s statement.
However, surveillance footage obtained by personnel from the Criminal Investigations Department from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) had shown Quoirin could walk unaided despite her physical disabilities, which contradicted the family’s initial claim.
Nik Ezanee said the revelation surprised everyone including several foreign police correspondents who held watching briefs on behalf of the family’s home country.
“I asked for one of the footage to be provided to one of the Irish police correspondents and he was shocked even after I told him this footage of Quoirin walking unaided was confirmed by the mother herself.
“But then we came to a conclusion that the family could possibly be under so much stress that they insist Nora Anne cannot walk by herself.
“In their mind at the time Nora was abducted. If we said Nora went out herself, their stress level would have gone up, they would have denied something like that,” he said.
Pressed on whether there could have been a miscommunication between the family and him over the full disclosure of Quoirin’s disability, Nik Ezanee said he accepted the information at face value and did not probe to avoid further stressing the family.
He also affirmed that he did not seek any form of clarification over the surveillance footage and the family’s initial disclosure that Quoirin could walk no more than 20 feet (six metres) without guided assistance from another person as she could not maintain her balance.
“It would have added to the stress of the family if I did that. So I didn’t,” he said.
On the day Quoirin’s body was found, Nik Ezanee also affirmed he was the first person to have notified the family of the discovery on August 13, 2019.
“After receiving a call concerning the discovery of a body, we agreed to inform the family as quickly as possible to prevent them from getting to know first-hand through the media which would have made them even more emotional,” he said, adding that he had gone to the scene where she was found and confirmed it was indeed the missing teenager.
He also said international investigators were satisfied with the findings of the post-mortem that there were no criminal elements present and that her cause of death was of upper gastrointestinal bleeding due to duodenal ulcer complications with perforation.
Small droplets of bloodstain discovered in chalet’s bathroom
Testifying as the inquest’s 46th witness, Deputy Superintendent C. Tharmalingam of Bukit Aman’s Crime Scene Investigation Unit said he had received a call from investigating officer Inspector Wan Faridah Mustanin to assist in an ongoing missing persons case on August 6, 2019.
“We were asked by the investigating officer to head towards The Dusun, Negri Sembilan for forensic evidence gathering, in particular blood samples at the crime scene.
“Upon our arrival around 7.30pm, I conducted a walkthrough of the scene and found no bloodstains through my naked eye observation,” he said.
Tharmalingam then said he utilised luminol to detect trace amounts of blood that may have been wiped clean prior to his arrival at The Sora House where Quoirin was last seen before she disappeared on August 4, 2019.
He told the court he managed to obtain small droplets of such samples on the floor of a bathroom adjacent to the main bedroom on the ground floor through the luminol spray he had used.
Asked on why he decided to search for trace amounts of blood, Tharmalingam explained that he had assumed the missing teenager may have been injured during a scuffle and would therefore leave a blood trail after taking into account the possibility of foul play elements.
However, he was unable to ascertain how long it had been there with the luminol test as the test was only meant to detect trace amounts.
Apart from trace samples of blood, Tharmalingam said he was not asked to obtain other forensic evidence at the chalet as another crime scene investigation team had already taken their samples and subsequent evidence gathering would have risked contamination.
Nora Anne, a 15-year-old with learning difficulties, disappeared from the resort last year where she was staying with her London-based family, triggering a 10-day hunt involving helicopters, sniffer dogs and hundreds of searchers.
Her body was discovered close to the jungle retreat and an autopsy found that she likely died of internal bleeding linked to starvation after spending about a week in the dense rainforest.
