KOTA KINABALU: A forensic pathologist who conducted the post-mortem on Zara Qairina Mahathir told the Coroner’s Court here on Thursday (Sept 11) that her findings and conclusions in the case were based solely on medical evidence.
Dr Jessie Hiu, 58, who has served with the Department of Forensic Medicine at Queen Elizabeth Hospital since 1998, said she was unaware of any VVIP or third-party involvement in the case.
The medical expert was responding to questions from lawyer Datuk Ram Singh, who is representing one of the minors charged with bullying the deceased.
Ram: Doctor, am I correct to say that after the locus in quo using a few mannequins and after conducting the post-mortem, your findings and conclusions were based solely on medical evidence and your expertise as a forensic pathologist?
Dr Hiu: Yes.
Ram: Your answer would not in any way be influenced or affected by the allegation of VVIP or third party, but solely on medical expertise?
Dr Hiu: I’m not aware of a VVIP or third party in this case.
When asked if there was any possibility that a few people carried the teenager and threw her down to the ground floor while unconscious, Dr Hiu said, "Yes, but the persons carrying her would have to position the body with the feet pointing downwards and stretch it out from the ledge to the spot where she landed, which was quite a distance.
However, she added that she did not know how many people would have had to carry her.
Ram: Supposing Zara Qairina had been hit by a blunt object, causing the laceration at the back of her head, would that blow have caused her to faint or become unconscious?
Dr Hiu: In this case, it was not only the laceration, but also the underlying bleeding - subdural and subarachnoid haemorrhage - which rendered her unconscious.
Ram: Am I correct to say that when a person is unconscious, it would be difficult to carry and position the body so that it lands feet first at the spot where she allegedly landed?
Dr Hiu: It would be difficult to hold the body (stretched out so that it would) land feet-first, at the spot (where) she allegedly landed.
Ram: In short, Zara Qairina would have been conscious, standing upright before the fall, not unconscious?
Dr Hiu: Yes, likely.
Meanwhile, when asked by lawyer Rizwandean M. Borhan, who is representing the deceased’s mother, whether the teenager would have screamed in pain if she had fallen from the three-storey building, landed on her feet, and suffered the injuries, the witness replied: I would not know, as I only examined her after death.
Rizwandean: If the deceased had fallen from the three-storey building, am I correct to say that it is more likely she would have suffered more severe injuries?
Dr Hiu: The fractures sustained by the deceased were severe. The fractures to the tibia and calcaneum were consistent with a fall from height. However, I am not able to determine the exact distance of the fall.
Dr Hiu, the inquest's first witness, concluded her testimony on Thursday. The proceedings before Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan will resume Friday (Sept 12).
Zara Qairina 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 in Papar at 4am.
On Aug 8, the Attorney General’s Chambers ordered her remains to be exhumed for a post-mortem, before announcing an inquest into her death on Aug 13.- Bernama
