Court hears claims over handling of missing wallet in Zara case

 

KOTA KINABALU: The Coroner’s Court heard on Monday that a teacher’s alleged failure to promptly return a missing wallet belonging to one of Zara Qairina Mahathir’s classmates may have triggered events that led to Zara being accused of theft, according to a witness statement.

The mother of Student A said that had Cikgu Rohayati shown empathy and returned the wallet promptly, the incident in which Zara was later found beneath a hostel block might have been prevented.

In her testimony before Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan on Monday, the 62nd deponent said Cikgu Rohayati instructed a block leader to wake her daughter at about 3am to meet the teacher at the area where Zara was later found, handed the wallet to her daughter to return to the classmate, later scolded the classmate in class while denying any connection to the wallet, and referred to her daughter as a “dog”.

She further testified that earlier that morning Cikgu Rohayati had told her daughter the wallet was found in the academic building by another student, that Aunty Linah admitted the teacher was present at the scene in the early hours, but that Cikgu Rohayati denied being there when contacted by Inspector Wong.

The deponent also said she had messaged Ustaz Azhari via Telegram at 10.28pm on July 15 to complain about losses occurring in the hostel without response, and added that after learning of Zara’s incident she contacted Zara’s mother repeatedly out of concern as she was driving alone from Sipitang to Kota Kinabalu. - dailyexpress