Corporal PD Manimaran, from the Tracker Dog Unit (K9) of the Police Training Centre (Pulapol), however said he was unsure whether the German Shepherd dog had picked up her scent from the victim’s clothing or otherwise, about 50 metres from Sora House.
“After taking the dog to the back of the house, the dog stopped at the area planted with bamboo as if it had picked up something near the fence.
“The dog continued to bring me up and down the hill outside The Dusun Resort until it lost track of the scent,” said the 10th witness in the Nora Anne inquest to determine the cause of death of the teenager.
The dog handler said this in response to a question from deputy public prosecutor Nuralis Mat, who is also the inquest’s coordinating officer.
The witness, who has been with the Pulapol K9 unit since May 2018, said he had participated in the second SAR operation on Aug 7, 2019, which focused on the river area of the resort, based on rumours that a girl had been spotted bathing in the river, but nothing positive was found then.
“On Aug 13, 2019, I brought my dog back and searched the area around Sora House, based on the information that Nora Anne’s mother believed that her child would not go far from the resort. However, there was no positive indication then,” he added.
Earlier, the ninth witness in the proceedings, which entered its sixth day today, told the court that based on Nora Anne’s physical description, it would be quite difficult for the teenager to cross the area around the resort, including reaching the location where her body was found on Aug 13.
KLIA police K9 Unit handler Sergeant S Simon said this was because he himself had experienced difficulties during the operation and slipped several times.
To a question from Nora Anne’s family lawyer, S Sakthyvell, Simon said he and his search dog were involved in the SAR operation that lasted four days — on Aug 6, 8, 11 and 12, 2019.
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 60km south of Kuala Lumpur
On Aug 13, 10 days after she went missing, her body was found near a creek in a ravine, 2.5 km from the resort where she and her family stayed, following a massive search.
Preliminary surgical reports stated that the death of the teenager, who was a person with a disability, had no criminal elements.
The teenager was confirmed dead from gastrointestinal bleeding due to prolonged hunger and stress.
The inquest before coroner Mahmoonah Aid continues tomorrow.