Trauma delayed child witness’s account, says mum

 The woman tells the inquest her daughter became withdrawn and appeared to blame herself as a result of the trauma she experienced at the hostel.

Zara Qairina Mahathir, 13, died at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on July 17, 2025, a day after being found unconscious in a drain near her school dormitory. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA:

 The mother of a child witness told the Kota Kinabalu coroner’s court today that her daughter was traumatised and that was why she only shared her account of the incident involving Form One student Zara Qairina Mahathir after nearly three months.

The 41-year-old woman said her daughter, the 65th child witness in the inquest into Zara’s death, only shared details of the incident with her in September and October last year, Bernama reported.

The mother then spoke to a religious teacher at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Tun Datu Mustapha, Papar, Shukriah Fauzi, between January and February to confirm whether her daughter had also been interviewed about the incident.

“My daughter told me why she felt traumatised. She said she was afraid. We noticed changes in her after the incident — she was uncomfortable and felt guilty,” she told lawyer Nurul Rafeeqa Afdul Mutolip, representing the victim’s father, before coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan at today’s proceedings.

In her testimony, the woman said that when she met her daughter on July 16, 2025, her daughter told her Zara had fallen from the hostel building and asked her to pray for her, without giving further details.

“At the time, I saw that my daughter was emotional, distressed, and sobbing. It wasn’t until nearly three months later that she started to share more details about what had happened,” she said.

Zara, 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 4am.

The woman, the 66th witness in the inquest into Zara’s death, said her daughter had promised to meet her friend at Block A of Rabiatul Adawiyah after doing her homework the night before the incident but fell asleep.

The witness said her daughter recalled waking around 1am to go to the hostel block to meet a friend, and on her way back to her room in Block B, she saw a female student on the third floor of Block A.

The woman said her daughter then went up to the third floor, tapped the female student on the back, and realised it was Zara, whom she held by the hand and led into a room before returning to her own room in Block B Sumaiyyah to sleep.

The mother said her daughter recalled being asked by a female police officer what she knew during a group meeting with students at the school. She told the officer everything, but the officer raised her voice and asked, “Why did you go to Block A at that time?” which made her daughter cry.

“Later, a male police officer comforted my daughter, and she shared everything with him, though she isn’t sure if it was recorded,” she said.

The woman said after the incident involving Zara, her daughter became withdrawn, appeared to blame herself, and often trembled from the trauma she experienced in the hostel.

“My daughter told me that the day before the incident, she had noticed Zara wasn’t her usual cheerful self. When she tried to talk to her, Zara just smiled and didn’t respond.

“My daughter blamed herself for not speaking to Zara, believing that if she had, the incident might not have happened. She was busy with school hockey competitions and practice at the time.”

After her daughter’s disclosure, the woman contacted a school teacher to report the matter before giving her statement to the police.

Meanwhile, lawyer Shahlan Jufri, representing Zara’s mother, said the child witness came forward to give her testimony in the inquest out of fear of being misunderstood or blamed.

Shahlan said the child witness told him she was worried and afraid of being misunderstood by the media and netizens as she was considered the last person to see Zara before the tragic incident.

Proceedings continue tomorrow.

It was reported yesterday that the 65th child witness, not initially listed, had come forward to testify in the inquest into Zara’s death.

On Aug 13, 2025, the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) had ordered the inquest following a review of the police investigation report.

On Aug 8, 2025, the AGC issued an order to exhume Zara’s body to allow a post-mortem to be conducted. - FMT