BATU PAHAT: Irene Sofiya Mohd Khairool Faisal was a quiet and independent girl who dreamed of becoming a specialist doctor, just like her late mother.
The Form Four student, who died at a school in Yong Peng on Saturday, had told her aunt Siti Nur Faeza Khyar about her career aspiration.
“Sofiya asked me, ‘Mak Long, what kind of doctor should I become?’
“I told her, ‘If you ask me, I would suggest obstetrics and gynaecology because there are not many women specialists in the field’.
“She then told me that her first choice was obstetrics and gynaecology, while her second was public health, like her late mother,” recalled the 45-year-old teacher.
Siti Nur Faeza last met her niece earlier this week to help her revise Biology for her year-end examinations.
“She was a very quiet child and was not difficult to care for. When it came to her studies, she worked independently.
“Sofiya was a bright student who consistently excelled in her studies,” she said at the family’s home in Kampung Parit Selamat, where the victim lived with her maternal grandparents.
She said the incident had shocked her family, and they hoped that those responsible would be punished.
Irene Sofiya, an only child, had lived there since she was nine, a year after her mother died of liver cancer, while her father worked in Kuala Lumpur.
Her grandmother, Jameyah Rabani, 66, said two of her granddaughter’s schoolmates went to the house and told her that the teenager’s motorcycle was still at the school, but she was nowhere to be found.
She then rushed to the school with her eldest child, Siti Nur Faeza, and joined the two students in searching the compound for Irene Sofiya. Not long after, they found her on the floor of the school hall, covered in blood.
“She was still alive. I held her and called her name. She managed to look at my face before becoming limp and no longer moving,” said a devastated Jameyah, with tears streaming down her face.
Irene Sofiya’s grandfather, Khyar Abbas, 69, expressed his grief over the manner in which his granddaughter died and hoped appropriate action would be taken against those responsible.
“I am truly saddened. If she had passed away from an illness or something else, it would have been different.
“But the way she died was tragic. I cannot bring myself to describe the condition she was in when she was found.”
Khyar recalled his last meeting with Irene Sofiya, during their breakfast together on the morning of the incident. He described Sofiya as a good child.
“You can ask anyone, be it her friends or teachers. They will tell you she never caused trouble to anyone,” he said.
A schoolmate, who declined to be named, said Irene Sofiya was a school prefect and high-achieving student and was among the candidates for president of the school’s Student Leaders Board next year. Another student described her as a thoughtful and intelligent person.
