FOR 14 years, Kasturi watched her daughter G. Keziah Nisha grow up surrounded by love, never imagining that words from outside the family could gradually leave the teenager struggling to cope.
Now, one of the final messages Keziah shared with her mother has become a painful memory.
“I want to give Mum a present.”
Those were among the last words the 14-year-old shared with Kasturi several days before she was found dead.
At the time, Kasturi said she had no reason to believe that the present her daughter mentioned would become a source of such profound grief.
She recalled how Keziah’s sister had earlier given her a birthday present, prompting her to jokingly ask her daughter whether she had prepared one as well.
“Her sister came and gave me a present. When I opened it, I joked with Keziah, ‘Your sister has already given me a present, aren’t you giving me one?’ After that, she smiled and told me, it was on the way.
“So, I thought she had ordered something, like how people usually order things through TikTok. I thought the item was still on its way.
“On Sunday night, I asked her again, ‘Where’s the present?’ Because before that, she had told me she had ordered something and asked me to make the payment. When I asked when it would arrive, she checked and said the item was still at the airport and had not arrived.
“So, I thought the present would arrive later. I thought perhaps the present was worth waiting for. But I never imagined that the present she was referring to was actually...,” she said.
Kasturi said Keziah had also dreamed of becoming an actress because she wanted to be known by many people.
She described her daughter as someone who enjoyed being noticed and had spoken about her ambition to become famous.
But she never imagined that her daughter would eventually become widely known because of the circumstances surrounding her death.
“For me, no mother wants her child to be known in this way,” she said.
Kasturi said her only wish now was to obtain justice and learn the truth about what happened to her daughter.
She also hoped the case would be the last of its kind and that no other child would suffer a similar fate.
“She is the only one who knows what she went through. As a mother, I know she was bullied (based on the conversations between the two of us), she was dealing with the pressure of bullying. That is all I know.
“Now my daughter is gone. I want justice for my daughter,” she said.
Earlier, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek ordered an internal investigation into the death of the Form Two student, which has been linked to allegations of verbal bullying, including racially charged remarks, to be completed as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Fadil Marsus said police had recorded statements from 92 witnesses as of Saturday.
The case is being investigated under Section 507B of the Penal Code concerning bullying offences. - August 24, 2026
