Child kept quiet, blamed herself and always 'shivered' after incident with Zara - Witness

THE mother of a child witness revealed that her daughter reported the incident involving the late Zara Qairina Mahathir when they met at the Likas Hockey Stadium on the day the student was found unconscious under the dormitory building of a religious secondary school in Papar.

The 41-year-old witness is the 66th individual to give evidence at the Coroner's Court in the inquest into Zara Qairina's death.

According to her, her child reported the matter after participating in a hockey competition on July 16 last year, while sobbing.

"My daughter told me that her friend, the late Zara, fell from the dormitory building and asked me to pray for her.

“She did not elaborate at that time. I saw my daughter at that time in an emotional state, depressed and sobbing.

"Almost three months later, my daughter elaborated on what she knew about the incident. She told me about an incident related to Zara's death," she said while reading out the witness statement she provided in the proceedings today.

The witness also stated that her daughter was once called to testify during a student meeting at the school, but faced a situation that affected her emotions.

"My daughter narrated everything, but the female police officer raised her voice and asked, 'Why did you go to block A at that time?'.

"When the female police officer raised her voice, my daughter began to cry, and then a male police officer calmed my daughter down before she narrated everything to the police officer. However, my daughter does not know whether her story was recorded or not," she said.

Meanwhile, she said, his daughter suffered strong emotional effects after the incident.

"My daughter is more silent and seems to blame herself, and often 'shivers' due to extreme trauma following the incident at the hostel.

"When we asked about Zara, she only said, 'Mother, recite Al-Fatihah only for the deceased'. I saw that her emotions were unstable.

"My daughter informed me that the day before the incident, she saw Zara not being as cheerful as usual, and when asked, Zara just smiled without interacting.

"My daughter blames herself for not talking to Zara because maybe if she had talked to Zara, the incident might not have happened. Of course, my daughter was busy with school hockey competitions and training," she said.

She added that she only found out more about the incident after her daughter informed her a few months later.

"My daughter informed me that she did not immediately tell me about it after the incident because she was still traumatised. Every time the matter of Zara was mentioned or raised, she could not answer and just cried.

"Zara's incident really impacted my daughter because she knew Zara personally. My family and I tried our best to help her," she said.

According to her, following the revelation, she decided to contact a teacher at the school before the matter was reported to the authorities and her statement taken by the police. – April 1, 2026