KOTA KINABALU: A young girl, previously not listed as a witness, has given her testimony at the inquest into the death of Form One student Zara Qairina Mahathir at the Coroner’s Court here on Tuesday (March 31).
Lawyer Shahlan Jufri, representing Zara Qairina’s mother, said the 65th child witness, a senior student at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Tun Datu Mustapha, Papar, presented a new account and chronology of the incident involving the teenager on July 16 last year before Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan.
“Last year, we said the child witnesses had completed their testimony… it was done. However, a new child witness came forward with a new story, a totally different chronology of events.
“The witness mentioned several students and recounted what happened on the night of the incident to her mother two or three months after it occurred,” he told reporters after the proceedings.
According to Shahlan, the child’s mother contacted a teacher at the school after hearing her daughter’s account of the night, prompting the witness to give her testimony in detail.
"Based on the witness’s account today, it was only this year that she provided detailed testimony to the police,” he added, noting that the child’s testimony was not yet complete and proceedings would continue on Wednesday (April 1).
Meanwhile, lawyer Joan Goh, who is representing a child involved in the bullying case of Zara Qairina, said the child witness, believed to be the last person with Zara Qairina, revealed her account of the night before the tragic incident during Ramadan this year.
Joan said the witness saw Zara Qairina pacing near the dormitory toilets, greeted her, and spoke with her for about 10 minutes.
She explained that the child witness had gone to Block A to visit a friend’s room around 1 to 2am. Upon finding her friend asleep, was about to return to her own room when she saw Zara Qairina in the third-floor corridor.
"She (the child witness) brought Zara back to her dorm, saw Zara enter the dorm, then closed the dorm door and returned to her own dorm at block B,” Joan said.
She added that the mother of the child witness would also give her testimony tomorrow.
Zara Qairina, 13, died at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on July 17, 2025, a day after being found unconscious in a drain near her school dormitory at around 4 am.
On Aug 13, 2025, the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) ordered the inquest following a review of the police investigation report.
On Aug 8, 2025, the AGC issued an order to exhume the late girl’s body to allow a post-mortem to be conducted. – Bernama
