Since following this case, there’s been a frustrating lack of information. Very few photos of the resort were released, and very little information has been made freely available to contextualize the scene. Has this been by accident, or by design?
The images released by the authorities of the window [the imputed exit point when Nora supposedly wandered off] were from such a wide angle, it was difficult to see any artifacts either on the inside or outside of the windows. There was also only a limited view inside the bungalow.
As a result of extensive digging and dogged research it’s been a slow process to start piecing the Quoirin accomodations together.
Having done so, it now appears unlikely that Nora slept upstairs at all. The parents and siblings told police Nora slept close to them, upstairs [see screengrab below]. But is this accurate? If it is, why didn’t they hear her move out of the room? The bungalows upstairs have wooden floors. So if she was sleeping right beside them, how couldn’t they hear her?
We also know the children were later not allowed to communicate any further with investigators as a result of “legal advice”. The family lawyered up as early as Day 2 of Nora’s disappearance. Missing from the British or Irish coverage of the case was this snippet of intelligence published in the Malay Mail on August 7th, and sent to me courtesy of @McCannCaseTweet [who’s also been cautiously studying this case].
These [see below] are the upstairs living quarters. Enough to sleep four people. [Nora was on holiday with her parents, and two younger siblings, a brother and a sister as reported in The Mirror on August 7th].
With her spatial difficulties, she would have struggled to navigate the spiral staircase between the upstairs and downstairs level, especially at night.
It was never explicitly stated where Nora slept, if she was upstairs with her parents or with her siblings, but one assumed it was with her siblings. It was clearly implied that she slept upstairs on August 3rd, and that she was the most tired after their long trip.
But the police believed – correctly – that Nora probably didn’t sleep upstairs, despite what the parents and perhaps Nora’s siblings had told the Malaysian authorities. This comes from The Sun, August 9th.
Below is a clear view from the inside towards the kitchen window. It shows a third bedroom in the double-story Sora House. If this is accurate, Nora was left to sleep on her own, while the family – the Quoirin couple and her younger siblings – all slept upstairs.
If Nora woke up at night and went looking for her family, would they have heard her? And isn’t that why she might have wandered off in the first place – because she was in a strange place, in the dark, looking for her mom and dad, brother and sister, couldn’t them and horribly lost in the process?
The Sora House appears to be the biggest of the six units offered by the resort.
Was this vertiginous setup of structures connected by stilts and staircases really the ideal setting for a child with Nora’s developmental difficulties and cognitive vulnerabilities?
True Crime Rocket Science II 
It makes sense then that she got up and wandered about this strange unfamiliar house and lost her way. What you saw on the father’s face was likely guilt, that they had chosen to have her sleep downstairs, on her own – or it was the mother’s idea. They might have been afraid she would fall down the stairs if she slept upstairs. If you could find a picture of her house set up at home you would probably see that if she did get up during the night, she might only go as far as her parents room, and they would normally help her back to bed.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Do we know where any bathroom/toilet facilities were located ? She could have got up for loo. I guess some of this is dependent on the poor girls capabilities. Agree it doesn’t look the ideal set up for anyone with motor skill issues. If she was out to sleep downstairs presumably there’d also be a bathroom and they were confident she could find it ok in the night.
LikeLike
It had been a long flight too, everyone probably figured on falling asleep quickly and not getting up during the night. She could have mistaken that tall window for a door, she was simply stepping through it either looking for a bathroom or her parents. But I don’t understand why her clothes are missing. Might she not have had clothes on to begin with?
LikeLike
Those upstairs railings look low in that if you bumped into them in the night, if tall enough you could easily go over the top, would be huge risk to let her be upstairs there at night time. Even with securing the door downstairs might windows have been left open re the heat? Seems unlikely given what her Grandfather said of her not liking being separated by family that she would be a.o.k. sleeping down there alone, or that she’d choose to climb out a window into the darkness and keep on going, as opposed to calling out to family. We have a child with learning & development challenges and if staying somewhere unfamiliar one of us would sleep, on the floor/mattress if necessary with them in case of them wandering in the night, though they are much younger. And it’s not us in the scenario of course but Nora & her family, and the calls/decisions they made.
LikeLike
Video of the house from YouTube. It looks a bit lethal. Could someone have messed up by making an inappropriate booking? Also, looking at some holiday booking sites (it’s a slow Monday and am tired after work !) it seems to suggest there is room for 3 only upstairs in a ‘queen size’ bed and a single. With the one double downstairs. Quite possible that they arrived, looked at the layout and found it unsafe for her to be upstairs. But it would mean 2 adults and 2 other kids crammed into the loft bedroom for 3? Unless maybe a sibling or parent shared with her downstairs. It’s not somewhere i’d take a small child (rope bannisters, large glassless Windows, balcony with low flimsy railings etc). And I guess some of the risks for a small child would apply to nora
LikeLike
Even if she went out alone, does not explain AT ALL how she ended up 2.5 km away, and no major injuries scrambling in the dark or day through steep, difficult, lush terrain, with her disabilities and being found dead only with minor cuts on legs and starvation. People keep harping on her being found naked. How many times must it be said that westerners wear their undies to sleep in especially kids and going through forest and water, they might come off, easily, torn off. If that is so, what the hell was she not injured at all, in terrain even experienced hikers found difficult?? Her bare feet would have been ripped. Did someone in her family lead her there and left her? The negligence factor is there is left alone downstairs…but again miraculous no injuries from the trek.
LikeLike