ZARA QAIRINA INQUEST: RELIGIOUS TEACHER RECOUNTS LAST MEETING

KOTA KINABALU, Feb 3 (Bernama) -- During today’s inquest proceedings into the death of Zara Qairina Mahathir, the Coroner’s Court heard testimony from a religious teacher who recounted her final meeting with the deceased, about two months before the student’s death.

The 63rd witness, Nur Ain Jabah, 38, who taught Zara Qairina at the Sekolah Agama Negeri Kampung Naluyan in Sipitang, said the meeting took place in May 2025, when the deceased stopped by the school during the school holidays.

Nur Ain said she began teaching and came to know Zara Qairina from 2023 to 2024, when the deceased was studying at the school, where she taught subjects including Tauhid, Akhlak, Hafazan and Imlak. Throughout that period, they shared a close teacher-student relationship.

She said that, during the meeting, she asked about Zara Qairina’s situation at her secondary school, including whether the deceased was facing any problems, or being bullied by her peers.

“She told me everything was fine, that her friends were all kind and that no one was bullying her. She said she was happy at her new school. That was the last time I met her,” she said while testifying before Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan.

Nur Ain said she also advised Zara Qairina to consistently perform her prayers, respect her teachers and not to keep problems to herself, adding that she had informed the deceased that she was always ready to listen should she face any difficulties.

She added that Zara Qairina was also a student who liked to help teachers, was active in co-curricular activities, and would often seek teachers’ advice if she encountered minor misunderstandings with friends.

The witness also told the court that she had previously been aware of an act known as ‘barcode’ (self-harm marks) which she described as a trend on the TikTok application, involving several students, including Zara Qairina, when the deceased was in Year Five. She said that the matter had been addressed by teachers, and did not recur after advice was given.

Nur Ain further informed the court that on the day the deceased was confirmed to have passed away (July 17, 2025), she and several other teachers had planned to visit Zara Qairina at the hospital, after attending a school event.

However, she said that they later received shocking news of the deceased’s passing, and she felt deeply saddened as she did not have the opportunity to meet the deceased for the last time.

Meanwhile, the 64th witness, Sekolah Agama Negeri Kampung Naluyan’s headmistress, Nur Hidayah Mohamad, 39, described Zara Qairina as a cheerful, affectionate and sociable student, who never had any disciplinary record throughout her time at the religious school.

Nur Hidayah, who has served as headmistress of the school since 2014, said that she had known Zara Qairina since infancy, as the deceased was related to her, and also knew her as a student from the time she began studying at the school, at the age of six.

According to her, throughout six years of schooling, Zara Qairina often helped other pupils, including bringing students who were crying or facing problems to the teachers’ room. She added that the deceased consistently ranked among the top 10 academically, and was active in co-curricular activities, particularly storytelling competitions on the lives of prophets, up to the district level.

Nur Hidayah said Zara Qairina had a very close relationship with teachers at the religious school, as well as her classmates, and described the deceased as someone who helped create a cheerful atmosphere in the classroom.

Zara Qairina, 13, died at Queen Elizabeth Hospital on July 17, 2025, a day after she was found unconscious in a drain near her school hostel, at about 4 am.

On Aug 8, 2025, the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) issued an order for the exhumation of the deceased’s remains to allow a post-mortem examination to be conducted. Then, on Aug 13, the AGC ordered an inquest to be held after reviewing the police investigation report.

The inquest proceedings will resume on March 31, while the locus in quo visit to the scene related to the death, at the hostel building of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama (SMKA) Tun Datu Mustapha, scheduled for this Friday - has been postponed.

-- BERNAMA