The Warisan president is alleged to have uttered remarks on the ongoing inquest into the death of Zara Qairina Mahathir.
Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan, who is also a sessions court judge, fixed the hearing date after rejecting an application by Shafie’s lawyer, Chen Ket Chuin, to postpone the proceedings pending the disposal of an appeal by an NGO in a related matter.
Deputy public prosecutor Mustaffa P Kunyalam objected to a further adjournment, arguing that the appeal by Pertubuhan Kebajikan Ekonomi Semangat Bersatu Malaysia (Pembela), following a recent High Court ruling in Kota Kinabalu, had no direct connection to the contempt proceedings.
Mustaffa confirmed the matter during online proceedings today.
On Oct 23 last year, the attorney-general obtained leave to commence proceedings against Shafie, who is also the Warisan president and former Sabah chief minister.
Speaking at an event in Kinabatangan, Shafie reportedly described Zara’s death as “murder” and questioned the authorities’ handling of the case, despite the ongoing inquest before Amir Shah.
On May 14, Justice Celestina Stuel Galid ruled that Pembela did not have the legal standing to file a judicial review application seeking to quash the inquest.
Pembela intends to file an appeal within the stipulated 30-day period.
It had filed the judicial review application on Nov 21 to quash the inquest on the grounds that it was being conducted under the federal Criminal Procedure Code instead of Sabah’s Inquest Ordinance 1959.
The NGO argued that the state law contains specific procedural safeguards, and sought an order declaring the 1959 ordinance as the applicable law and for the court to strike out the ongoing proceedings.
Zara, 13, died at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu on July 17 last year, a day after she was found unconscious in a drain near her school dormitory in Papar. - FMT
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