On this day: Questions remain unanswered over Nora's death

On this day last year, the body of missing teenager Nora Quoirin was found in the Malaysian jungle, 10 days after she disappeared on a family holiday. Picture: LBT/Family handout/PA

On this day last year, Irish Examiner readers learned that the body of missing teenager Nora Quoirin was found in the Malaysian jungle 10 days after she disappeared on a family holiday.

Nora’s naked body was found by a stream in the jungle approximately 2km from where she was last seen at a rainforest resort.

Nora was born with the brain defect holoprosencephaly. Her Irish mum and French dad said that she had difficulty walking and to leave her bedroom to venture into the jungle was extremely out-of-character.

The vulnerable 15-year-old’s death was a mystery then and it remains somewhat of a mystery today. Her family say that there are still unanswered questions about what happened to their daughter that night.

An inquest is due to be held later this month, with Malaysian media reporting this week that a coroner and lawyers for the family and the prosecution had all visited the rainforest where she was found ahead of this hearing.

On this day five years ago, the controversial water charge protests were stoking fiery debate after it was announced that some protesters would be prosecuted after the upcoming election.

Socialist Party TD Paul Murphy and two party councillors were to be taken to court over water protests. Then-tánaiste Joan Burton was to be the star witness.

Ms Burton had been struck in the face by a water bomb and trapped by protestors in her car with her advisor Karen O’Connell for more than two hours at a protest the previous November.

Mr Murphy, TD for Dublin South West, was to be charged with false imprisonment which could attract a maximum of a life sentence.

In 2017, Mr Murphy and five co-defendants were found not guilty of the charges.

And 10 years ago, rapist Larry Murphy was pictured tugging a grey hoodie over his face as he left the Cork train in Dublin.

Murphy, then 45, had been released from prison days earlier after serving more than 10 years for the repeated rape and attempted murder of a Carlow business woman in February, 2000.

Facebook groups of concerned people were tracking his whereabouts post-release.

A woman’s dying wish to hold a street party for neighbours and friends was granted on this day 20 years ago when Galway city was closed off for the colourful event.

Peigi Dooley who was in the final stages of motor neuron disease was given permission to cordon off part of the city so that 700 people, bringing only ‘friends, smiles and dancing shoes’, could come.

“This is a special party, a gift from the heart,” she said. 

“I told everyone to come along and to bring friends with smiles and dancing shoes.” 

And 50 years ago, one of the largest murder hunts in Northern Ireland was launched to trace those responsible for the deaths of two policemen, killed by a booby-trap blast.

Constable Samuel Donaldson, 23, and Constable Robert Millar, 26, were the first police officers to be killed in the Troubles.

On August 11, 1970, a booby-trap bomb planted under a car by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) near Crossmaglen, in County Armagh, Northern Ireland killed the two Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers.