A security guard on duty the night teenager Zara Qairina Mahathir was found unconscious told the Coroner’s Court that she tried to wake the girl by calling her name and touching her cheek, but there was no response.
The witness, Linah Mansoding @ Jaliha, 65, said the Form One student was breathing heavily, almost like “snoring,” and appeared as though she was asleep.
“I called her name, but she didn’t answer. She was lying on her back, poor thing,” said the mother of four when questioned by the victim’s family lawyer, Shahlan Jufri, during the seventh day of the inquest into the teenager’s death.
Linah added that Zara, who was found lying in a drainage ditch, was not wearing shoes or a headscarf at the time.
According to her, the victim was later moved to the front of the girls’ hostel, near the warden’s house, while waiting for medical help.
“The Hostel Chief Warden, Azhari Abd Sagap, and three senior students carried her. I remained there, and several female teachers were also present. We waited almost an hour because the ambulance was slow to arrive,” she told the court.
She recalled that when Zara was finally placed inside the ambulance, blood was flowing heavily from her left leg, with part of the bone exposed.
The inquest is ongoing.
Zara Qairina, 13, died at Queen Elizabeth Hospital on July 17, a day after being discovered unconscious in the ditch near her school hostel in Papar at about 4 a.m.
On August 13, the Attorney General’s Chambers ordered an inquest after reviewing the police investigation report. Earlier, on August 8, Zara’s grave was exhumed to allow a post-mortem examination.
