Victoria’s state coroner has been unable to rule whether an Australian woman who was found dead outside a Mozambique toilet block was raped and murdered.
Judge John Cain released his findings into Elly Warren’s death on Friday, more than seven years after the 20-year-old died in the African nation.
The Melbourne woman had been volunteering when she was found dead outside a toilet block in the beach town of Tofo on November 9, 2016.
A Mozambique autopsy found homicide was her medico-legal cause of death, by suffocation on sand.
But Judge Cain could not rule whether the 20-year-old’s death was a homicide.
Elly Warren was found dead outside a Mozambique toilet block in November 2016
Judge Cain could not rule whether the 20-year-old’s death was a homicide or determine if she had been sexually assaulted
He found the cause of death was asphyxiation from sand but he could not determine how the sand ended up in her lungs.
Judge Cain could also not say whether Ms Warren’s death happened outside the toilet block or if her body was moved there.
The coroner could not determine whether the 20-year-old had been sexually assaulted, although it was a possibility.
Ms Warren’s father Paul Walker (pictured) and her family remain in the dark about her death after the coroner’s ruling
Judge Cain said it was also possible that a person or multiple people caused or contributed to her death.
The coroner pointed to the Mozambique authorities’ decision not to hand over the brief of evidence as the reason for his limited findings.