SECURITY was heightened at the secondary school on Thursday morning where the Coroner’s Court prepared to revisit the site of 13-year-old Zara Qairina Mahathir’s fatal fall in 2022.
Police moved in before 7am, sealing the compound and taking up positions around the building.
Media practitioners gathered at the entrance as early as dawn, waiting for access to what has become the focal point of the inquest.
Forensic officers arrived at 7.30am to prepare the grounds ahead of the court session.
At 8.30am, Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan and parties to the inquest were scheduled to leave the Kota Kinabalu court for the “locus in quo” — a direct inspection of the scene of the crime where Zara was last seen before she plunged to her death.
They are expected to arrive around 9am.
Six witnesses have already testified, including Zara’s mother, schoolmates and the pathologist who conducted the post-mortem.
The inquest heard how a police simulation using a modified hospital mannequin showed the closest match to Zara’s injuries came from a vertical fall without any push.
Forensic experts testified that Zara would have had to either jump or swing from the railing, rather than slip accidentally.
The inspection is expected to help the coroner assess the height of the railings, the layout of the corridor and the plausibility of the testimonies heard so far.
More witnesses, including investigators and school staff, are set to take the stand before the court rules on how the teenager died.
Court officials arrived at the school at about 9.10am, entering the compound before making their way to the scene of the fall.
A police officer later told reporters that media would not be permitted inside, adding that any press briefings would have to be held outside the school grounds.
The coroner’s court is expected to conduct their demonstration for about three hours.
They left the school around 11.49am. The court officials are expected to be present in court as the inquest resumes indoors around 2pm. - September 11, 2025
