KOTA KINABALU: The Coroner’s Court heard that the late Zara Qairina Mahathir swore a solemn oath to Allah while crying and screaming to repeatedly deny theft allegations made against her.
School head warden Azhari Abd Sagap testified that the incident occurred after the deceased was summoned for questioning about a theft reported by a Form One student to the dormitory leader.
“Zara Qairina was asked by her dorm leader to swear by ‘Wallahi’ in response to the theft accusation,” the 31-year-old witness stated during the eighth day of the inquest into the teenager’s death.
Azhari told the court he became aware of the incident through written statements provided by five students obtained during an investigation conducted by wardens.
He explained that he was at the hospital during the incident and had instructed several teachers and female wardens to carry out the investigation into the theft allegation.
The witness stated that boarders sharing a room with Zara Qairina were gathered in an isolation room before the proceedings continued in the musollah or prayer room.
“The findings from the investigation conducted in the female dormitory’s isolation room and the musollah were subsequently relayed to me through the school’s Discipline Unit via a WhatsApp group,” he testified.
Azhari further testified that after Zara Qairina swore ‘Wallahi’, a group of Form One students proceeded to search her locker and bag.
The students discovered a Malaysian flag pin belonging to their dormitory leader during the search of Zara Qairina’s belongings.
“It was at that point that the dormitory leader took Zara Qairina to the room next door and asked her again if she had stolen the item,” the witness recounted.
He stated that she continued to deny the allegation before leaving the room crying and shouting, ‘I did not steal it, I’m telling you; this is stupid’.
The witness added that the last time the other boarders saw Zara Qairina was in the toilet before she was later discovered unconscious near the hostel drain.
Regarding the decision to move Zara Qairina from where she was found unconscious to an area near the warden’s quarters, the witness stated that the victim was carefully carried and gently laid down on a cloth mat.
He explained that the main concern at that moment was the safety and well-being of the adolescent student.
“The original intention was to transport the victim directly to the hospital,” Azhari testified under questioning by lawyer Shahlan Jufri, who represented the deceased’s mother.
The witness stated they stopped at that location because she was rather heavy and the spot was deemed suitable as it was shielded from the view of other students.
He did not deny experiencing trauma from witnessing Zara Qairina’s condition and confirmed that the school principal had arrived at the scene while they were waiting for the ambulance.
The inquest proceedings before Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan will resume tomorrow for further testimony.
Zara Qairina died on July 17 at Queen Elizabeth Hospital and was buried at the Tanjung Ubi Muslim cemetery in Sipitang the same day.
She was admitted to the hospital a day earlier after being found unconscious near a drain at her school hostel in Papar at 4 am.
The Attorney General’s Chambers ordered her remains to be exhumed for a post-mortem on August 8 before announcing an inquest into her death on August 13. – Bernama
