The inquest into the death of 13-year-old Zara Qairina Mahathir will resume tomorrow at the Kota Kinabalu Court Complex after being adjourned last month following 52 days of testimony.
Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan said the proceedings were paused to allow a related criminal trial involving five minors accused of bullying Zara Qairina between Dec 8 and Dec 19 to proceed. The adjournment also took into account the year-end holidays and the opening of the legal year on Jan 16.
Hearings, scheduled to continue until Feb 13, are expected to include testimony from two additional teachers as well as Zara Qairina’s mother, Noraidah Lamat.
Zara Qairina died on July 17, a day after she was found unconscious on the ground floor of the SMKA Tun Datu Mustapha hostel. Following public outcry, her body was exhumed in Sipitang on Aug 9, with a second post-mortem conducted the next day at Queen Elizabeth Hospital by a team of four pathologists, including Dr Jessie Hiu.
The inquest, which began on Sept 3, has so far heard evidence from 57 witnesses, including 35 of Zara Qairina’s schoolmates. More than 60 witnesses are expected to testify in total.
Dr Hiu, the first expert witness, told the court that Zara Qairina’s injuries were consistent with a fall from a height. Other medical witnesses included emergency physician Dr Janefer Voo, who was the first to attend to Zara Qairina upon her admission to hospital, and neurosurgeon Dr Pavankumar Balachandran, who said he had discussed the teenager’s prognosis with her mother.
Former school security guard Linah Mansoding @ Jaliha testified that the school’s chief warden, Azhari Abd Sagap, had instructed students to move Zara Qairina’s unconscious body to another location while waiting for an ambulance. She also said a pool of blood was cleaned and the school’s public telephones were switched off to prevent outside communication.
The inquest heard that Inspector Maidon Bernadus, who conducted a police fall simulation as part of the investigation, acknowledged that he was not a biomechanics expert and lacked specialised knowledge in fall biomechanics. This led to renewed calls by the family’s lawyers for expert testimony.
As part of the proceedings, the court, together with expert witnesses Dr Hiu and Inspector Maidon, revisited the school on Sept 11, 2025.
Child witnesses told the court that scolding juniors was a long-standing practice at the school. They said Zara Qairina had been repeatedly questioned by seniors over alleged theft, including on the night of July 15 during a meeting involving a group known as “Circle Nineteen”.
Witnesses said stolen items were allegedly found in Zara Qairina’s locker during spot checks that night. She later returned to her dormitory in tears, but no one dared to comfort her. She was later seen looking pale and unwell in the toilet before being found unconscious on the ground floor several hours later.
The court also heard that Zara Qairina had made remarks resembling farewells to her friends and was commonly labelled by peers as “the problematic Zara”.
Disciplinary teacher Nur Shukriah Mohd Fauzi testified that the school had withheld an internal investigation report on Zara Qairina after staff were instructed by superiors not to submit it to the police. Another witness, Asnie Marjun, said the school was also instructed not to share information with Zara Qairina’s mother.
During the three-month inquest, the Coroner’s Court allowed contempt proceedings to be initiated against activist Mona Din and former Sabah chief minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal over public statements deemed capable of prejudicing or interfering with the proceedings.
Mona pleaded guilty and was fined RM300, while the court fixed Feb 3 to hear Mohd Shafie’s contempt case. Former headmaster Kamul Kamarudin was also fined RM10,000 by the Kota Kinabalu Sessions Court for uploading a Facebook post containing threats against Dr Hiu.
