Zara Qairina inquest: Mother to decide on possible legal action

KOTA KINABALU: The legal team representing Zara Qairina Mahathir's mother will discuss with their client the next course of action against parties responsible for the teenager's death.

Lawyer Shahlan Jufri, who represents Noraidah Lamat, said the team would prioritise filing written submissions for the concluded inquest into Zara Qairina's death.

"After this, we will discuss the matter with our client. We can only give our opinion.

"However, the final decision on whether to take civil action against any responsible parties rests with our client," he told reporters after the Coroner's Court fixed Dec 15 as the deadline for interested parties to file their submissions and Jan 15 for the verdict.

Commenting on the 96-day inquest, which involved 83 witnesses, Shahlan said the proceedings had not been easy.

"I believe this is the shortest inquest in history. It is being held concurrently with proceedings at the Court for Children related to Zara Qairina's case.

"We hope the decision will be fair to all," he said.

Zara, who was 13 at the time, was found unconscious at the SMKA Tun Datu Mustapha hostel on July 16 last year and pronounced dead the following day at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Noraidah is also represented by lawyers Datuk Rizwandean Bukhary M Borhan, Mohd Luqman Syazwan Zabidi Md Zain, Mohd Syarulnizam Mohd Salleh, Farrah Nasser and Elhanan James.

Zara Qairina's father, Mahathir Mohd Hashim, is represented by lawyers Sherzali Herza Asli, Nurul Rafeeqa Afdul Mutolip and Clarice Vyone Conrad.

Lawyers Datuk Ram Singh, Joan Goh and Prem Elmer Ganasan represent Student A, while Azhier Farhan Arisin, Abdul Fikry Jaafar Abdullah, Mohammed Fareez Mohammed Salleh and Sylyester Kuan represent Students B, C, D and E, respectively.