Nora Quoirin inquest: No evidence vulnerable teenager was abducted from resort before death, Malaysian police say

A Malaysian police chief has said there was no sign London teenager Nora Quoirin was abducted before she was found dead on a family holiday.

The 15-year-old's body was found naked near a nature resort in the southern Negeri Sembilan state in August last year.

An inquest into her death opened in Malaysia on Monday.

The first witness, the Negeri Sembilan police chief, said the investigation showed no criminal element.

Mohamad Mat Yusop added there was no indication Nora was kidnapped and there was no ransom demanded.

Police believe the Franco-Irish teenager climbed out of a window on her own and the post-mortem examination showed she died from intestinal bleeding due to starvation and stress, he said.

Nora's parents, who have lived in London for two decades, believe she was kidnapped because she had mental and physical disabilities and could not have wandered off on her own.

She was born with holoprosencephaly, a neurological disorder, and her family have described her as “very vulnerable".

Her body was discovered on 13 August next to a stream more than 2km from a resort where her family were staying on holiday.

She had disappeared from their cottage on 4 August - a day after her family had arrived.

Haanim Bamadhaj, the resort owner who lives opposite the family's cottage, also gave evidence to the inquest into her death, saying the night Nora went missing was peaceful and her dog, who would usually bark if there were people outside, was quiet.

She acknowledged a window of the cottage that was found ajar the morning Nora disappeared was faulty and could be opened from the outside. But she said there had never been any criminal break-ins in her property since it opened for business 11 years ago.

The inquest, which is set to run until 4 September, is expected to involve 64 witnesses.

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 a cottage window was found ajar with a broken latch on the morning Nora disappeared.

Nora had poor motor skills and needed help to walk and her mental age was about five or six years old, her parents said in the lawsuit.

Gurdial Singh Nijar, the lawyer representing the resort, told reporters after the first day of the inquest that the incident was unfortunate but "there was no culpability" on the part of the resort owner.

Nora's parents, Sebastien and Meabh Quoirin, have welcomed Malaysia's decision to hold the inquest after police classified the case as "no further action".

They had previously urged the Malaysian government to hold an inquest to establish what happened to their daughter.

Additional reporting by Associated Press