THE Coroner's Court was told that 15 mobile phones with SIM cards had been handed over to the Computer Crime Investigation Unit of the Forensic Laboratory, Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) for forensic analysis.
An analyst from the unit, Assistant Superintendent Mohd Zaidi Abu Hassan, 44, said he received two separate exhibit submissions for analysis on August 8 and August 19, 2025, from the Papar District Police Headquarters.
For the first exhibit submission on August 8, Mohd Zaidi received a transparent plastic police exhibit bag containing 11 mobile phones with SIM cards from a sergeant.
Four more mobile phones with SIM cards in a similar PDRM exhibit bag were handed over to him by another sergeant on August 19, reported Harian Metro.
"I found all the exhibits to be in good condition," he said while reading his witness statement for more than an hour before Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan, today in the Zara Qairina death inquest.
The 70th witness said the exhibits were accompanied by the Exhibit Inspection/Analysis Application Form (MF01), as well as the Internal Exhibit Handover Certificate and Exhibit Acceptance Certificate (MF02).
"Based on the MF01 form, the investigating officer requested a full inspection of all the mobile phone exhibits to obtain social media data, WhatsApp visuals, verbatim records, images and deleted images from February 2025 to the present," he said.
Mohd Zaidi said he conducted the analysis using XRY forensic equipment for mobile devices.
"Before conducting the analysis, I made sure the evidence was in good condition. Then I connected the cable to the device and started the examination. I analysed according to ISO 17025 and NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) standards.
"After completing the analysis, I converted the findings into PDF format using my office computer, which only I could access," he said.
He told the court that the examination of some of the evidence could not be carried out because some devices could not be turned on after charging due to a broken on/off button, while others had a broken LCD screen.
However, the SIM card was still being examined for the reference of the investigating officer.
Mohd Zaidi said he had returned the first evidence submission with his report on August 19, 2025, and the second evidence submission on September 2, 2025.
Zara, 13, was found unconscious on the ground floor of her dormitory on July 16, 2025 and was confirmed dead the next day at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH). – April 16, 2026
