“SCHOOL SHOULD HAVE PROVIDED INFORMATION TO ZARA QAIRINA'S MOTHER - WITNESS 

KOTA KINABALU, Dec 4 (Bernama) -- The Coroner’s Court was today told that the mother of Form One student Zara Qairina Mahathir should have been informed by the school about an incident that occurred the day before the girl was found unconscious.

This was revealed by Nur Shukriah Mohd Fauzi, 37, a discipline teacher at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama (SMKA) Tun Datu Mustapha, during the inquest into the death of 13-year-old Zara Qirana before Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan.

The 53rd witness confirmed this when questioned by lawyer Farrah Nasser, who represented the victim’s mother.

Farrah asked, “The school has left Zara’s mother, until today, without knowing what really happened to her daughter, and she only learned about it through social media when the school should have been responsible for providing the information?”

Nur Shukriah replied, “Yes.”

However, the witness said the school did not inform Zara Qairina’s mother about a meeting held the night before her daughter was found unconscious, as they were concerned it would further distress her, given that Zara Qairina was her only child.

She also acknowledged that the abusive words hurled by two students the day before the incident may have affected the teenager’s emotional state.

During today’s proceedings, Nur Shukriah also recounted the words spoken by the deceased’s parents when Zara’s ventilator was removed in the neurological ward of Queen Elizabeth Hospital on July 17.

“At that time, I was in the ward. Her father looked very emotional. When the doctor was preparing to remove the ventilator, he held the bed and said, ‘Zara, wake up, Zara.’

“Her mother then went to Zara’s bedside and said, ‘Mama reda (accepts) and am letting you go. Zara is a good child,” the teacher said in response to questions from lawyer Clarice Vyone Conrad,  representing the father.

Zara Qairina was confirmed dead at Queen Elizabeth Hospital on July 17, a day after she was found unconscious in a drain near her school dormitory.

-- BERNAMA