No foreign DNA found on Nora Anne's body - Chemist

Director of DNA Forensic Division, Department of Chemistry, Nor Aidora Saedon said that the result was based on the exhibits provided by the authorities.

Nor Aidora, the sixth witness of the Nora Anne inquest proceedings to determine the cause of death of the teenager, said that the first exhibit was the swab test taken from Nora Anne’s family member, while the second one was from her body and the last one is the samples taken at the scene.

“My job is to analyse the exhibit from the crime scene and from my knowledge, the first report, 19FRB18998, was from the first exhibits sent in, when Nora Anne was yet found. Therefore, you will see some swab and exhibits from which I was able to get a profile of and was labelled as ‘Individual One’.

“The third report, 19FRB99139, was when Nora Anne’s body was found and we could ascertain the individual in the report as Nora Anne. Based on exhibits as well from my analysis, we could not find any foreign DNA on Nora Anne's body,” she said.

She said this during her testimony before Coroner Maimoonah Aid, here.

When asked by Maimoonah what she meant by no foreign DNA was present, Nor Aidora explained: “Any foreign DNA on her body, either from swab, fingernail or hair, that does not belong to Nora Anne.

“As human beings, we tend to leave our DNA around, therefore based on where the exhibit is taken, you will have the rough idea who has left the evidence behind,” she said adding that the DNA is not something that can change.

The inquest proceedings will continue until Sept 4 with a total of 64 witnesses to be called to testify to assist in the investigation.

Nora Anne, 15, went missing on Aug 4, last year, a day after she and her family arrived in Malaysia for a two-week holiday at a resort in Pantai here, about 60 km south of Kuala Lumpur.

Nora Anne’s body was found nine days later on Aug 13, near a stream in a hilly area, about 2.5 km from the resort, following a massive search.

A preliminary post-mortem report revealed there were no criminal elements in Nora Anne’s death and that the teenager had died of gastrointestinal bleeding, due to prolonged stress and hunger.

The inquest continues tomorrow (Sept 2).