KOTA KINABALU: The Coroner’s Court has concluded hearing from the third child witness on the fourteenth day of the inquest into the death of Zara Qairina Mahathir.
The child witness gave her testimony in a closed-door session before Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan this afternoon.
Proceedings are scheduled to resume tomorrow with the testimony of the fourth and fifth child witnesses.
A total of eleven witnesses, including three children, have now testified since the inquest began on September 3.
Another twenty-five adult witnesses and thirty-two child witnesses are expected to give evidence in the upcoming sessions.
Media personnel are barred from the courtroom during child witness testimony under the Child Witness Evidence Act 2017.
The Act prohibits the publication of any information that could reveal a child witness’s identity.
Zara Qairina, aged thirteen, died at Queen Elizabeth Hospital on July 17 after being found unconscious.
She was discovered in a drain near her school dormitory in Papar in the early hours of July 16.
The Attorney General’s Chambers ordered the inquest on August 13 after reviewing the police investigation report.
Prior to that, the AGC had issued an order for the exhumation of Zara Qairina’s grave to perform an autopsy. – Bernama
