POLICE yesterday came out to defend their efforts to locate Irish teenager Nora Anne Quoirin, adding that the public should stop speculating on the case and move on.

Negri Sembilan Police Chief Mohamad Mat Yusof, who was the media’s police “face” during the 10-day episode, repeated that there were no elements of foul play in the teenager’s death, as various theories surrounding her death surface online and on social media.

“The remains were claimed late on Friday night because the family wanted to avoid media attention.

“The police had deployed all manpower and equipment available to locate the teenager and the investigation found no foul play involved in her death.

“I hope everyone will stop speculating and move on. I do not wish to comment on baseless reports published by certain media,” Mohamad told The Malaysian Insight.

Nora, 15, went missing from The Dusun Pantai Hill eco resort near Seremban in Negri Sembilan on August 4. Her family had checked into the resort the day before for a two-week holiday.

After an extensive search, hikers stumbled on her body 10 days later in a small stream some 2km away from the resort.

Following the discovery of the body, numerous foreign reports surfaced speculating on how Nora died death and the authorities involved in the case.

Reports also surfaced that Nora’s parents were forced to meet with a medium in a bid to communicate with her.

“What nonsense. How can we force the family to do such things?” a senior police officer close to the case said.

A British tabloid reported that police took the parents to four mediums after they “ran out of ideas” on where to look for the teenager.

It added that at least one senior ranking officer attended the ceremony with the parents.

Meanwhile on Facebook, child rights activist Anne Brennan accused the Quoirin family of doing “everything in their power to subvert the course of justice”.

Brennan, who is also a lawyer, said the family’s recent announcement that they were leaving Malaysia with the teenager’s body was highly suspicious.

She also alleged that Nora’s parents, Meabh and Sebastien Philippe, “high-tailed” it out of the country upon receiving a guarantee that they would not be investigated for any involvement in the teenager’s disappearance and death.

Police, however, maintain that they covered all angles in the case.

“In 10 days, we deployed hundreds of rescuers, including several from our elite forces, K9 dogs, drones and helicopters. That was not all, a special team was assembled from the Serious Crimes Unit and Anti-Vice Unit.

“We searched homes, looked into the background of criminals and took dozens of fingerprints from people close to the case. No foul play was found,” the police source The Malaysian Insight.

On Wednesday, police said a post-mortem on Nora revealed she had died of gastrointestinal bleeding after not eating for several days, aggravated by prolonged stress.

Pathologists also concluded she had not been sexually assaulted and no suspicious criminal elements were found on the body. – August 20, 2019.