KOTA KINABALU: The mother of the late Zara Qairina Mahathir said that she was not in the right state of mind to insist for an autopsy to be carried out and just signed the document to turn down a post mortem in the immediate aftermath of her daughter's death.
In a Facebook post, Noraidah Lamat said she was in a state of shock and panicked when she signed the document declining the autopsy.
There was no one to provide her with advice not to sign the document refusing the autopsy.
“I was shocked, panicked and could not make a proper decision during the incident. No advice was given and if we had known, we would not have signed the document refusing the autopsy,” Noraidah said in a comment on Facebook under the handle of "Noie AiDa".
The 45-year-old woman admitted that she could not think clearly when asked to give permission for an autopsy to be conducted on her daughter, Zara Qairina, 13, who died at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital 1 here on July 17.
“There was no clear explanation and I am not used to cases like this. I panicked and was not given any advice on the post-mortem process.
“If I had known (the importance of conducting a post-mortem), I would not have signed the document to refuse the post-mortem,” she said.
Her lawyer, Hamid Ismail, confirmed that the account with the username "Noie AiDa" belonged to Noraidah.
On Wednesday (Aug 13), Bukit Aman revealed that there was indeed a procedural non-compliance by the police in failing to conduct a post-mortem.
However, Criminal Investigation Department director Datuk M Kumar said Noraidah herself signed a document issued by the hospital not to allow a post-mortem to be conducted on her daughter's remains.
Zara Qairina died on July 17 at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, a day after being found unconscious beside a drain at her religious school dormitory in Papar.
The Attorney General's Chambers then ordered that the Form 1 student's body to be exhumed and a post-mortem performed on Sunday (Aug 10).
Zara Qairina's body was reburied at the Tanjung Ubi Islamic Cemetery in Sipitang on Aug 11.
