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A6 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 5 January 2021
Malaysia coroner: No foul play in death of French-Irish teen

By EILEEN NG through the rough terrain.
Associated Press They also said the possibility
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia of sexual assault remained,
(AP) — A Malaysian coro- even though there was no
ner ruled Monday that evidence of violent assault,
the death of a French-Irish and that her highly submis-
teenager whose body was sive nature ruled out any
found near a Malaysian struggle.
jungle resort where she “Once again, we see that
vanished while on vacation justice struggles to support
was most likely a misadven- the most vulnerable in so-
ture that didn’t involve oth- ciety, only engaging with
er people. special needs at a surface
Coroner Maimoonah Aid level,” they said.
ruled out homicide, natu- A British pathologist who
ral death and suicide and performed a second au-
said Nora Anne Quoirin topsy on Nora Anne’s body
likely got lost after leaving in the United Kingdom tes-
her family’s cottage on her tified that he agreed with
own. The 15-year-old disap- In this image from video released by Malaysian Judiciary, Meabh Quoirin and Sebastian Quoirin, the Malaysian findings that
center frame, mother and father of missing schoolgirl Nora Anne Quoirin, attend the verdict for
peared at the Dusun eco- inquest into the death of the Irish-French teenager, Monday, Jan. 4, 2021. she died of intestinal bleed-
resort in southern Negeri Associated Press ing due to starvation and
Sembilan state on Aug. 4, stress. However, he said he
2019, a day after the family ably theory” with no evi- died by misadventure, i.e. only appropriate verdict couldn’t fully rule out sexual
arrived for a vacation. After dence. that she had gone out of because, throughout the assault due to severe body
a massive search, her body Nora Anne was wearing the (cottage) on her own testimonies presented in decomposition.
was found on Aug. 13 be- only underwear when she and subsequently got lost this case, layers of (pro- But the coroner said the
side a stream on a palm oil went missing at nighttime, in the abandoned palm fessional) evidence have teenager may not have
estate about 2.5 kilometers but her body was found na- oil plantation,” the coroner confirmed what we always been able to open the
(1.6 miles) from the resort. ked. The coroner noted the said. believed — that Nora was heavy sliding door to her
Police believed she family’s contention that this Nora Anne’s parents, who abducted,” they said. parents’ bedroom. She
climbed out of the cottage lent credence to the pos- were listening to the online The family cited unidenti- could have opened the
window on her own, with sibility of sexual assault but verdict from their home fied fingerprints found on window by accident,
no evidence of any foul said an extensive autopsy in London, said in a state- the outside of a window Maimoonah said.
play. But her parents said could find no such proof, ment that they were “ut- in their cottage that was Rescuers may also have
she was likely kidnapped nor evidence of struggle or terly disappointed.” found open the morning initially overlooked Nora’s
because she had mental smothering. They said Nora was simply of her disappearance, fail- body due to the thick jun-
and physical disabilities Maimoonah also said there incapable of hiding in un- ure of hundreds of trained gle terrain, Maimoonah
and wouldn’t have wan- were no suspicious circum- dergrowth or making her rescuers to find her initially added. The autopsy esti-
dered off on her own. They stances prior to the teen- way out of the resort in the and police dogs unable to mated that she died be-
told the inquest that a third ager’s disappearance, no darkness unclothed. They follow Nora’s scent. tween two and four days
party could have dumped ransom request and no said they had asked the They feared possible DNA before her body was dis-
her body in the area follow- signs of intrusion into the coroner to return an open evidence was lost because covered.
ing the search operation family’s cottage. verdict, which would mean of the lapsed time and the A total of 49 witnesses testi-
for her. “I ruled that there was no there was suspicion of foul finding of her body in wa- fied over 24 days since last
The coroner described one involved in the death play but inadequate proof ter, and noted a lack of August via video confer-
the family’s suggestions as of Nora Anne. It is more to show so. major physical damage to encing due to the corona-
“nothing more than prob- probable than not that she “We still believe this is the her body if she truly walked virus pandemic.q

Protesting farmers, Indian gov’t fail to

resolve deadlock

mand that new agricultural Tens of thousands of farm- agriculture and make farm-
reform laws be repealed. ers have been blocking ers vulnerable to corporate
With the government refus- the highways for nearly 40 greed.
ing to revoke the legisla- days despite the coronavi- The farmers have threat-
tion, the farmers pledged rus pandemic, rains and an ened to hold a rally on Jan.
to continue blockading ongoing cold wave. 26 when India celebrates
key highways linking the Farmers fear the govern- Republic Day if their de-
capital with the country’s ment will stop buying grain mands are not met.
north. The two sides agreed at minimum guaranteed In their last meeting on Dec.
to meet for more talks on prices under the laws and 30, the two sides reached a
Friday. that corporations will then consensus on two issues —
A farmer lies under the belly of a tractor trolley next to a bonfire
as they block a major highway in a protest against new farm “It is up to the government push prices down. The gov- that the government would
laws while it rains at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh state border, India, whether it wants to solve ernment said it is willing to continue its subsidy of elec-
Monday, Jan. 4, 2021. the farmers’ problems. We pledge that guaranteed tricity for irrigating farms
Associated Press will not end our protests un- prices will continue. and that farmers would not
NEW DELHI (AP) — Rep- ing farmers failed again til our demands are met,” The farmers say the laws be punished for burning
resentatives of the Indian Monday to reach agree- said Hannan Mollah, a will lead to the cartelization crop residues, a cause of
government and protest- ment on the farmers’ de- leader of the farmers. and commercialization of air pollution.q