ZARA QAIRINA INQUEST: SCHOOL TEACHERS DID NOT GIVE AUTHORITY ON RUDE TREATMENT - WITNESS

KOTA KINABALU, Oct 14 (Bernama) -- A child witness told the Coroner's Court here today that teachers at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Tun Datu Mustapha, Papar did not give senior students the authority to be rude to junior students at the school.

Lawyer Joan Goh, who is representing one of the teenagers involved in the bullying case of Form One student Zara Qairina Mahathir, said the witness, who is a senior student and a member of the Circle-19 group, revealed the matter before Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan on the 22nd day of the inquest proceedings into Zara Qairina's death, today.

Sharing the witness's testimony, Goh said the 13th child witness informed that the school's teachers also did not know they were rude to other students, and according to the witness, they were only following the practice of previous senior students because when they were junior students, they were also treated in the same way.

"The witness said that she and other senior friends were never given permission by the teacher to reprimand, scold and judge students who did wrong," Goh said when met by reporters after the proceedings.

Sharing further witness testimony, Goh said that according to the witness, they did not tell the teachers at the school about the theft case that occurred in the dormitory and they also did not tell the teachers about Zara Qairina being suspected of committing the matter.

Recounting the incident on the night of July 15, Goh said the witness said she had asked Zara Qairina about the theft case in the dormitory after being asked by a fellow witness to resolve the issue, but about 15 to 20 minutes later, Zara Qairina just kept quiet and the witness then returned to her own room because she could not do anything.

The lawyer said that according to the witness, she also saw Zara Qairina enter the room and the witness did not meet the student after that and only at about 3 am on July 16, she was woken up by her friend who told her that someone had fallen below the dormitory.

"The witness said she looked from the third floor and saw Zara Qairina lying on her back and unconscious," she said, explaining that the witness also stated that she did not know what happened at that time and only in the morning was the witness told that Zara Qairina was believed to have fallen from the upper floor.

Meanwhile, lawyer Mohd Syahrulnizam Mohd Salleh, who represented Zara Qairina's mother, when sharing the testimony of the 12th child witness, said the witness also revealed that she had been roughed up by a senior student more than once when she was a junior student and that the senior student had also used abusive words before.

"The witness said that she would be sad after being called out by a senior student when she was a junior student. The witness had reported to the teacher and warden about the incident of the senior student being roughed up but the witness did not remember whether the school took any action after the witness made the report," he said.

Mohd Syahrulnizam said the witness informed the teachers at the school that they knew the meaning of the terms MA, which is Dormitory Meeting and MB - Room Meeting, besides the witness also explained that MA refers to a mass meeting between senior students and junior students, while MB involves dormitory residents who share a room.

"The witness said that when she was a junior student she also experienced MA," he said, explaining that the witness was not sure whether senior students had committed MA against other senior students, but according to the witness, senior students would usually commit MA against junior students.

Sharing the same witness's testimony, lawyer Azhier Farhan Arisin, who represented four children in the Zara Qairina bullying case, said the witness revealed that the senior students who met with Zara Qairina to ask about the theft case in the dormitory on the night of July 15 did not yell, being rude or use abusive language towards the teenager.

Azhier Farhan said the witness, who was a senior student and also a member of the Circle-19 group, said that she and several other friends asked in a normal tone of voice, but the witness was told that a senior student had yelled at Zara Qairina.

Zara Qairina, 13, was confirmed dead at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kota Kinabalu on July 17 after being found unconscious in a drain near her school dormitory at 4 am on July 16.

The inquest proceedings will continue tomorrow.

-- BERNAMA