Jackson Ringkai Anak Gawan, 28, the 18th witness in the inquest to determine Nora Anne’s death, a JBPM Tracker Dog Unit (K9) fire officer from the Jalan Klang Lama station in Kuala Lumpur, said a Labrador named Buddy did not give any positive reaction during the search near The Dusun Resort.

“The first search attempt, which started at 10.30am on Aug 5, did not obtain positive leads,” he said when testifying before Coroner Maimoonah Aid today.

Asked by deputy public prosecutor Norhafiza Haron, who is the inquest’s coordinating officer on what the dog’s reaction would be if it managed to detect something, Jackson said: “If it detects something, the dog will stand still, stare and bark.”

To a question from Nora Anne’s family lawyer, S Sakthyvell, on whether Buddy was directed by him during the search, Jackson said he just followed the dog.

Meanwhile, the 19th witness, Fire Officer Ajat Anak Menang, 30, also from the same unit, told the court that a Border Collie named Murphy also failed to locate Nora Anne’s whereabouts during the mission.

Ajat said he and Murphy verified Jackson’s findings in the search operation to locate Nora Anne.

Asked by Norhafiza on whether the use of different dogs would affect the search mission, Ajat said: “It does not affect the search operation if there are smell traces.”

The inquest proceedings will continue from Oct 19 to 23 with witnesses, including those from the police and JBPM, called to testify.

“In November, we will focus on Nora Anne’s family,” said Maimoonah.

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, 60km south of Kuala Lumpur.

Her body was found on Aug 13 near a stream 2.5km from the resort, following a massive search conducted by the authorities.

A preliminary post-mortem report revealed there were no criminal elements in Nora Anne’s death and that the teenager had died of gastrointestinal bleeding, due to prolonged stress and hunger.