There were no arguments among students at the female hostel of a religious school in Papar on the night Form One pupil Zara Qairina Mahathir was found unconscious, the coroner’s inquiry was told today.
Security guard Linah Mansoding @ Jaliha, 65, said she did not hear any loud noises while on duty that night, when Zara was discovered near a drain at the hostel at 4am on July 16.
Linah, a mother of four, was responding to questions from Joan Goh, counsel representing a teenager accused of bullying Zara.
“I did not hear any loud noises. I did not hear the students fighting; all their rooms were dark. I have never heard of any physical assault cases among the hostel students. They only engage in playful behaviour. There are no hitting incidents – just verbal exchanges… like saying ‘you’re stupid’,” said Linah, the sixth witness to testify at the inquest.
Linah, who has been working at the school since 2012, said she had heard of thefts involving students, and such matters would be referred to teachers or security personnel.
“However, I do not know whether any disciplinary action was taken against students for theft…as I remember, there were none,” she said.
Linah said she did not know from which floor Zara had fallen; she had not seen any bloodstains in the corridors of the first, second, or third floors of the hostel building.
She had testified earlier that bloodstains at the scene had dried, hardened, and turned black. Although there had been continuous rain for two days, which began at dawn on that day, the dried and hardened bloodstains were still visible even today.
Recalling the moments she first became acquainted with Zara, the witness said: “I saw her on TikTok… I approached her and asked, ‘Is this your TikTok?’. She replied, ‘Yes’.
“The second time, I saw her at the clothes drying area. I asked her, ‘Why are you running around so late at night?’. She merely smiled and said she was accompanying her friend to wash clothes,” said Linah, who concluded her testimony today.
Senior student ‘washing clothes’ at 2am
The security guard had testified earlier that a senior student who found Zara that night claimed to have woken early to do her laundry as she was worried there would be a long queue.
Goh: When the senior student ran to find you – at that moment, did you know where she was? That is to say, her position when she first observed the deceased?
Linah: At 3am, she said she heard a sound like something falling. She wanted to wash clothes… she had woken early because the queue (would be) long. While preparing to wash clothes, she heard a noise like an object falling, looked, and immediately called for me.
Questioned by Nurul Rafiqah Afdul Mutolip, counsel representing Zara Qairina’s father, Linah said she had never seen the said senior student washing clothes at 2am. She said hostel students typically washed their clothes around 10pm, after the evening preparatory class, usually in groups, or sometimes alone.
Nurul Rafiqah: In your experience, is it common for students to be walking in the hostel grounds around 2am?
Linah: No, at 2am it is very rare. They are usually asleep by then.
Nurul Rafiqah: Have students ever washed clothes at 2am?
Linah: Never.
Nurul Rafiqah: Have you ever observed the senior student washing clothes around 2am before this incident?
Linah: Never.
The inquest, by coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan, will resume on Sept 17.
Zara died in hospital on July 17 a day after being found unconscious in a drain near the hostel. Following allegations of bullying, the Attorney General’s Chambers on Aug 8 ordered her remains to be exhumed for a post-mortem, before announcing an inquest would be conducted into her death.
