Family of Irish girl found dead in Malaysia won't seek criminal probe, lawyer says
Nora Quoirin, 15, went missing on August 4, a day after checking into the resort with her London-based family AFP/FAMILY HANDOUT
14 Aug 2019 12:45PM
(Updated: 14 Aug 2019 01:00PM)
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SEREMBAN: The family of an Irish girl whose body was found near a Malaysian jungle stream will not demand a criminal investigation into the incident, their lawyer said on Wednesday (Aug 14), leaving it up to the police to decide the next course of action.
The naked body of Nora Quoirin, 15, was
discovered on Tuesday in a ravine in dense rainforestafter a 10-day hunt involving hundreds of people, helicopters and sniffer dogs.
READ: Missing Irish teen's mother thanks Malaysia search team
Results of an autopsy are expected later in the day, police said.
"They won’t press for anything because in this country, even in most countries, it has to be done by the police rather than you pressing for anything," lawyer Sankara N Nair told Reuters.
"They have to go on evidence. The family is totally distraught. Totally overwhelmed."
A body believed to be 15-year-old Irish girl Nora Anne Quoirin who went missing is brought out of a helicopter in Seremban, Malaysia, Aug 13, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Lim Huey Teng)
Nora went missing from the Dusun Resort, not far from Kuala Lumpur, on Aug 4, a day after checking in for a holiday with her London-based family.
Her family believed the teen, who had learning difficulties, had been abducted but police classified her disappearance as a missing person case.
Her body had to be airlifted by helicopter out of the ravine - about 2.5km from the resort - after which it was transported to a hospital and identified by her relatives.
On Wednesday morning a pathologist began conducting a post-mortem examination on the body, police said, as a media scrum gathered at the hospital in Seremban town, which was guarded by armed officers.
Family members gather to see the body of 15-year-old Irish girl Nora Anne Quoirin at Tuanku Jaafar Hospital in Seremban, Malaysia, August 13, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Lim Huey Teng)
Her family said the schoolgirl was "at the heart of our family", in a statement released by the Lucie Blackman Trust, a UK charity that supports relatives of British people missing overseas.
"She is the truest, most precious girl and we love her infinitely. The cruelty of her being taken away is unbearable. Our hearts are broken.
"We will always love our Nora."
"TRAUMATISED"
Nora's body was found unclothed but authorities have not said if there were any signs of injury.
Meabh Quoirin, with her husband Sebastien by her side, thanked rescuers for their continued efforts in looking for their missing daughter Nora. (Photo: AFP/Handout)
Police are not ruling out criminal elements in the case, have questioned witnesses and are investigating witness accounts of a truck heard early on the morning the girl disappeared.
A group of volunteers who were part of the search and rescue team found the body after being tipped off by a member of the public.
It was discovered in the official search zone, in an area that the team had previously covered.
On Monday,
the family had offered a RM50,000 (US$11,900) reward, donated by a Belfast business, for information that could lead to her return.
Family members gather to see the body of 15-year-old Irish girl Nora Anne Quoirin at Tuanku Jaafar Hospital in Seremban, Malaysia, Aug 13, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Lim Huey Teng)
And at the weekend, her mother Meabh fought back tears as she made an emotional speech thanking the search team, with the girl's French father Sebastien by her side.
The 5ha resort where the teenager disappeared is next to a patch of thick jungle and in the foothills of a mountain range.
Her family had said it was extremely unlikely the reserved youngster would have wandered off on her own.
She had a condition known as holoprosencephaly, where the brain fails to develop normally, had limited verbal communication and could only write a few words.
She attended a school for young people with learning and communication difficulties.
Source: AFP/ad
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Hong Kong airport gets court injunction to stop protesters from obstructing operations
A tourist gives her luggage to security guards as she tries to enter the departures gate during another demonstration by protesters at Hong Kong's international airport on August 13, 2019. (Photo: AFP/Philip Wong)
14 Aug 2019 09:05AM
(Updated: 14 Aug 2019 12:21PM)
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HONG KONG: Hong Kong's airport resumed operations on Wednesday (Aug 14), rescheduling hundreds of flights that had been disrupted over the past two days as
protesters clashed with riot police in a deepening crisis in the Chinese-controlled city.
Hong Kong's Airport Authority said it had obtained an interim injunction to stop people from "unlawfully and wilfully obstructing" the airport's operations.
"Persons are also restrained from attending or participating in any demonstration or protest or public order event in the airport other than in the area designated by the airport authority," it said in a statement on Wednesday morning.
In photos: Hong Kong airport protests turn violent after standoff over suspected undercover officer
Protesters physically blocked travellers from accessing flights throughout Tuesday afternoon, before battling with police outside the terminal later that evening and turning on two people they accused of being spies or undercover police.
Several police vehicles were blocked by protesters and riot police moved in amid chaotic scenes, using pepper spray to keep people back. A policeman pulled out a gun at one point.
Police condemned violent acts by protesters overnight and said on Wednesday a large group had "harassed and assaulted a visitor and a journalist". Some protesters said they believed one of those men was an undercover Chinese agent and that another was a reporter from China's Global Times newspaper.
Five people were detained in the latest disturbances, police said, bringing the number of those arrested since the protests began in June to more than 600.
READ: Hong Kong airport protesters 'overstepped bottom line of a civilised society': Government
"OUR LAST BARGAINING CHIP"
By early Wednesday, most protesters had left as workers scrubbed it clean of blood and debris from overnight. Check-in counters reopened to queues of weary travellers who had waited overnight for their flights.
The airport's website showed dozens of flights taking off overnight and listed hundreds more scheduled to depart throughout Wednesday, although many were delayed.
However, it was unclear if the protesters, who have no public leaders and organise via social media, would return to the airport.
Dicky, a 35-year-old protester at the airport for more than two days, said protesters would obey the injunction if it meant they had to leave, despite anger felt towards the government and the police, plus triad gangs who have been blamed for attacking some protesters.
"We saw the government arrested many people, many are injured, some committed suicide. We will continue to fight for what we deserve otherwise all of that would have been in vain,” he said, declining to give his full name.
"The airport is our last bargaining chip," another protester said.
READ: Scoot offers full refund, rebooking options for those flying between Hong Kong and Singapore
Michael, a 25-year-old tourist from Dubai, got to the airport on Wednesday more than 12 hours ahead of his flight home in a bid to avoid potential protests later in the day.
"I can feel like they are really fighting for my freedom, so my heart goes to them in a way," he said of the protesters.
But he said they were now targeting the wrong people.
"The passengers have nothing to do with what's happening, they mostly are tourists," he told AFP.
Flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways published a half-page advertisement in the Hong Kong Economic Journal on Wednesday pledging its support for the government and calling for the resumption of the rule of law and social order.
"Rule of law is the cornerstone of prosperity and for people to live and work in peace. We have to act now to oppose violence, to resume the peace, and to maintain the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong," it said.
Swire Pacific also said in an advertisement in the same paper that, as Cathay's largest shareholder, it supported the carrier's "zero tolerance on illegal activity".
READ: Chinese state media urge action, voice support for Hong Kong police after overnight clashes
CITY IN A STATE OF "PANIC AND CHAOS": HONG KONG LEADER
Ten weeks of increasingly violent clashes between police and protesters, angered by a perceived erosion of freedoms, have plunged the Asian financial hub into its worst crisis since it reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997.
The Hang Seng stock index fell to a seven-month low on Tuesday and embattled Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said the city had been pushed into a state of "panic and chaos".
The protests began in opposition to a now-suspended Bill that would have allowed the extradition of suspects for trial in mainland China but have swelled into wider calls for democracy.
READ: Violence will push Hong Kong down 'path of no return': Carrie Lam
China has condemned protesters for using dangerous tools to attack police, saying the clashes showed "signs of terrorism". The protests represent one of the biggest challenges for Chinese President Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012.
Demonstrators say they are fighting the erosion of the "one country, two systems" arrangement that enshrined some autonomy for Hong Kong when it returned to China in 1997.
The protesters turned their attention to the economically vital airport after weeks of huge peaceful rallies - and increasingly violent clashes between hardliners and police - failed to win any concessions from the city's leaders or Beijing.