SEREMBAN, Malaysia: The family of an Irish girl whose naked body was found near a Malaysian jungle stream will not demand a criminal investigation into the incident, their lawyer said on Wednesday, leaving it up to the police to decide the next course of action.
Police on Tuesday found the body of Nora Anne Quoirin, 15, who suffered learning difficulties, 10 days after she went missing from a rainforest resort in Seremban, about 70 km (44 miles) south of the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
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.”
The family had initially suspected a criminal angle to Nora’s disappearance, saying she had special needs and never before left her family voluntarily, according to a statement issued on their behalf by the Lucie Blackman Trust, a British victims’ aid group.
Nora’s mother is from Belfast while her father is French.
France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Tuesday night that the country’s authorities were ready to investigate the circumstances of her death.
Malaysia’s deputy police chief, Mazlan Mansor, said on Tuesday an initial investigation revealed no evidence of criminal behavior but police would look at all possibilities.
