Zara Qairina’s mother had no tears left on journey to hospital

KOTA KINABALU: The Coroner’s Court heard that Noraidah Lamat, mother of the late Zara Qairina Mahathir, expressed having “no tears left to cry” during the long journey from her Sipitang home to Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Azhari Abd Sagap, the 31-year-old hostel head warden at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Tun Datu Mustapha in Papar, provided this testimony on the tenth day of the inquest into the teenager’s death.

School officials offered condolences and comforted Noraidah to remain patient following the tragedy that befell her daughter.

“When we met Noraidah at the hospital around 10.00 am on July 16, she appeared calm and was not crying,“ said Azhari under examination by counsel Joan Goh, who represents one of the minors accused in the Zara Qairina bullying case.

“She said, ‘I have no tears left, crying from Sipitang to the hospital.’”

The eighth witness further testified that Noraidah recounted her daughter’s cheerful nature while in the hospital’s Emergency Unit.

Noraidah described Zara Qairina as an avid writer who owned three diaries.

She requested that the diaries be handed over to her and made similar requests to several other wardens.

Azhari informed her that the diaries in question had already been surrendered to the police.

The inquest proceedings before Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan will resume on Monday with a child witness expected to give evidence.

Zara Qairina died on July 17 at Queen Elizabeth Hospital and was buried at the Tanjung Ubi Muslim cemetery in Sipitang the same day.

She was admitted to the hospital a day earlier after being found unconscious near a drain at her school hostel in Papar at 4 am.

The Attorney General’s Chambers ordered her remains to be exhumed for a post-mortem on August 8 before announcing an inquest into her death on August 13. – Bernama