KOTA KINABALU: Thirteen-year-old Zara Qairina Mahathir often preferred sleeping on the floor with just a carpet rather than using her bed, the Coroner’s Court heard.
Child Witness 8, the 16th student to testify, on Tuesday (Sept 30), said Zara Qairina, who was assigned the top bunk, disliked tidying her bed and preferred the floor instead.
“She did not like using a blanket and would rather sleep on the carpet. In her dormitory, bedsheets had to be kept straight and neat at all times,” said lawyer Joan Goh, counsel for Student A, who was jointly charged with four others for using offensive words on Zara Qairina.
The witness also recalled that on the night of July 15, Zara Qairina returned to her room in tears and lay down on the carpet to sleep. It was the first and only time she had ever seen Zara Qairina cry.
Meanwhile, her colleague, Datuk Ram Singh, drew attention to an earlier testimony by the same witness.
“In April, Zara Qairina asked her friend, ‘Kalau saya lompat dari tingkat tiga, kau sedihkah?’ (If I jump from the third floor, would you be sad?). The witness replied, ‘Kenapa kau cakap macam itu, tidak bagus’ (Why do you say such things, it is not good), after which Zara Qairina kept quiet.
“It is a sad thing for someone to have such thoughts. This is a serious remark that cannot be ignored,” Ram said.
The inquest continues on Oct 7.
