SAR team already covered area where Nora Anne's body was later found - Witness

SEREMBAN: The Coroner's Court here was told today that the search and rescue (SAR) team tasked with looking for the missing Nora Anne Quorin had covered the area where the body of the Irish-French teenager was later found.

Inspector Hor Ming Jai, 30, from the General Operations Force (GOF) in Semenyih, Selangor, said the team entered two search zones, marked as 'zone five and zone six' on Aug 7 and 8 last year, but did not find any positive indication of the teenager's whereabouts.

Nora Anne’s body was found in the area marked as zone six on Aug 13, 2019.

“On Aug 7 and 8, we were the first team to enter the zone and no indication was obtained on both days,” Hor, who is the 22nd witness was testifying in the inquest to determine the actual cause of Nora Anne’s death.

It was held before Coroner iMaimoonah Aid.

Coroner : Is it easy to walk barefoot in the area?

Hor : Difficult.

Coroner : Can you describe the condition in the area?

Hor. : There are narrow trails that to walk, with steep slope and undergrowth on the left, but we did not go in there, but made observations of the area.

To a question by lawyer S. Sakthyvell, representing the teenager’s family, who wanted to know whether he noticed any foot prints in an area near a stream, Hor said he did not.

"It is a bush area and if anything passes through, the undergrowth will split and since there was no split in the bush, we did no enter the area, that’s the technique,” he said, adding that the SAR on Aug 8 focused on the area along the stream, where no lead on the girl’s presence was also found.

Earlier, three witness, comprising DSP Hamzah Abd Rani, 49, of the VAT 69 Commando team of the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM), as well as Inspector Khairul Marwan Kahar, 29, and Inspector B. Sathia Balan, both from the 3rd Battalion PGA in Semenyih, were called to testify as the 20th, 21st and 22nd witness, respectively.

The inquest is conducted by deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Sazali Omar.

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.

Her body was found on Aug 13 near a stream about 2.5 km from the resort following a massive search conducted by the authorities.

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 proceeding continues.

-- BERNAMA