SEREMBAN: A witness at the inquest proceedings to determine the cause of death of the Irish-French teenager Nora Anne Quoirin told the Coroner's Court here that the teenager could walk normally when she was at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
Nilai district police chief Superintendent Mohd Nor Marzukee Besar, the third witness in the proceedings before Coroner Maimoonah Aid, which entered the third day today.
He said this based on the CCTV footage obtained from KLIA on Aug 3 last year which showed Nora Anne walking from the arrival hall to the waiting area on the date the teenager and her family arrived in Malaysia.
The question and answer transcript is as follows:
Deputy public prosecutor Muhamad Iskandar Ahmad: On the eighth day, did you not think to expand the scale of search?
Mohd Nor Marzukee: On the eighth day, in the afternoon we all re-grouped after obtaining the video taken from KLIA by the Criminal Investigation Department team that the missing person victim seemed to be able to walk like a normal person of that age.
Coroner Maimoonah: (The) Video recorded at KLIA when the family arrived?
Mohd Nor Marzukee: Yes, (the) video at KLIA, she was waiting for someone to arrive, then she pulled the bag out of KLIA and it can be clearly seen she could walk like a normal person (who is) at the age of 15.
Coroner Maimoonah: As of the eighth day, the search was based on the information given by the family?
Mohd Nor Marzukee: Correct.
Mohd Nor Marzukee who was the operations commander in the search and rescue (SAR) mission.
He said when the video was shown, also present to witness it in a briefing room at the Pantai Police Station at 1.30 pm on Aug 11, were the then Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Mazlan Mansor, Negeri Sembilan police chief Datuk Mohamad Mat Yusop and Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department (CID) director Datuk Huzir Mohamed.
He said prior to being informed about the new development, he had briefed Mazlan on the SAR operation and visited the incident scene as well as meeting Nora Anne's family.
Muhamad Iskandar: Who informed you about the recording?
Mohd Nor Marzukee: The Criminal Investigation Department team and DSP Chong Mei Chey (who was the first liaison officer to Nora Anne's family) obtained the video from KLIA.
Muhamad Iskandar: Did you watch it?
Mohd Nor Marzukee: Yes.
Mohd Nor Marzukee said following the video footage, Mazlan had ordered the SAR operation to be expanded from four to six kilometres to 20 kilometres covering Gunung Berembun.
Muhamad Iskandar: Can you explain what happened during the briefing?
Mohd Nor Marzukee: DSP Chong played the video footage; while it was being played we repeatedly saw the victim moving to the waiting area. The video was played by DSP Chong many times, showing the missing person could walk like a normal person who is 15 years old, which is the victim's age.
During the proceedings, the court was also shown two video clips on the arrival of Nora Anne wearing a white shirt, pulling a purple bag at KLIA upon arrival with her family here, on Aug 3 last year.
Earlier in the proceedings, Mohd Nor Marzukee told the court that the victim's family said that she could walk only a distance of 20 feet (six metres) and needed the support of others.
Asked what would happen if the victim walked more than 20 feet, the witness said: "If she walked alone without the help of others, the victim would fall because she could only walk for 20 feet in a state of body imbalance."
The inquest proceedings will take place for two weeks from Monday to August 28 and will resume on Sept 1 to 4 before Coroner Maimoonah Aid.
A total of 64 witnesses will be called to testify to assist in the investigation.
Nora Anne, 15, went missing on Aug 4, a day after she and her family arrived in Malaysia for a two-week holiday at a resort in Pantai here, about 60 kilometres south of Kuala Lumpur.
On Aug 13, 10 days after she went missing, her body was found near a creek in a ravine, about 2.5 km from the resort where she and her family stayed, following a massive search.
Preliminary surgical reports stated that the death of the teenager, who was a person with a disability, had no criminal element, and the teenager was confirmed dead from gastrointestinal bleeding due to prolonged hunger and stress. – Bernama