Zara inquest: Day 6 commences with visit to school dorm

The sixth day of the inquest into the death of Form One student Zara Qairina Mahathir commenced with a site inspection of the Rabiatul Adawiyah Block girls’ dormitory at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Tun Datu Mustapha.

The presiding coroner, Sessions Court Judge, Amir Shah Amir Hassan, arrived at 9.15am, accompanied by several relevant parties.

The inquest’s conducting officers, led by deputy public prosecutor II Badius Zaman Ahmad, had arrived at the school at 8.29am.

A forensic police team and Sabah fire department personnel were also seen entering the school grounds before proceeding to the dormitory.

The session was expected to take between two and three hours, after which the inquest will resume at the Coroner’s Court in Papar at 2pm.

Approximately 20 members of the media were present outside the school grounds as early as 7am. However, they were not permitted access to the school grounds.

Zara, 13, died on July 17 at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where she had been admitted a day earlier after being found unconscious in a drain near her school hostel at 4am.

The Attorney-General’s Chambers ordered her remains exhumed for a post-mortem on Aug 8, before announcing a formal inquest into her death on Aug 13.

After about two hours, all involved parties were seen departing the school grounds at 11.50am.

Pathologist Dr Jessie Hiu, who was the first witness in the inquest proceedings, was also present at the scene.

Hiu, who has served as a forensic pathologist in the Department of Forensic Medicine at Queen Elizabeth Hospital since 1998, was one of four forensic specialists who performed the autopsy on the 13-year-old on Aug 10.

- Bernama

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