Two teachers testified as the first witnesses in the Children’s Court trial of five teenagers accused of verbally abusing student Zara Qairina Mahathir.
KOTA KINABALU: Two teachers from SMK Agasi Tun Datu Mustapha testified on the first day of a Children’s Court trial involving five teenage girls.
The accused are charged with using abusive words against Form One student Zara Qairina Mahathir under Section 507C(1) of the Penal Code.
According to the Court Registrar, one witness is an academic teacher and the other is the school’s Guidance and Counselling teacher.
The proceedings are being held under a gag order before Sessions Court Judge Marlina Ibrahim, with access restricted to directly involved parties.
Cross-examination of the second witness is scheduled to continue on Tuesday.
The prosecution is led by Deputy Public Prosecutor Nor Azizah Mohamad, assisted by three other DPPs.
The first accused is represented by lawyer Datuk Ram Singh, with four other lawyers representing the remaining teenagers.
The five girls were charged on Aug 20, with the offence carrying a maximum penalty of one year in jail, a fine, or both.
Zara Qairina died at Queen Elizabeth I Hospital on July 17 after being found unconscious in a drain near the school dormitory a day earlier.
