No eye-witnesses when Zara fell, Coroner's Court hears

KOTA KINABALU: There were no eye-witnesses when Zara Qairina Mahathir fell from the 3rd floor of her school hostel on July 16, 2025. the Coroner's Court was told.

The investigating officer, Inspector Wong Yew Zhung, said no one, including security guards or hostel wardens, had patrolled the third floor of the hostel block where Zara Qairina stayed on the night of the incident.

"My inspection also found that there were no closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in the hostel area that could have provided footage of the incident," he said while reading his written statement before Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan.

Wong said statements from students indicated that Zara Qairina was last seen by a group of students at about 10pm on July 15 when she was summoned by several Form Four students over an alleged theft.

"Later that night, between 10.15pm and 10.30pm, several students from dormitory A-3-5 said they saw Zara enter the dormitory crying before lying down on the floor," he said.

Wong said that at about midnight on July 16, four Form One students in dormitory A-3-5 said Zara approached them and asked to borrow a pair of scissors, but they refused her.

Between 12.10am and 12.30am, three other Form One students said they saw Zara climbing a toilet partition wall on the third floor and looking towards them.

"At about 2.35am, a student who had woken up early to bathe said she went to the third-floor toilet and found the door of the first cubicle closed.

"When she tried to open it, someone inside pushed against the door. The person was wearing a sports shirt bearing the word 'Hanafi'.

"She could not see the person's face but said the shirt was similar to the one Zara was wearing when she was found unconscious," he said.

Zara was found unconscious on the ground floor of her school hostel building on July 16, 2025.

She was pronounced dead the following day at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Her body was exhumed on August 9, 2025, for a post-mortem examination at the hospital's Forensic Medicine Department.

On August 20, 2025, five minors, identified by the pseudonyms Students A, B, C, D and E, were charged in the Children's Court with uttering insulting words at Zara Qairina. All pleaded not guilty.

The inquest began on September 3, 2025, to determine the cause and circumstances leading to Zara Qairina's death, including whether any criminal elements were involved.