KOTA KINABALU: The legal representative of a teenager charged with bullying in the death of Zara Qairina Mahathir has denied that their application to postpone the inquest proceedings was meant to delay the process.
The lawyer for one of the five teenagers accused Datuk Ram Singh said that his team was only using the legal options available.
“When we applied for the postponement, it was not because we wanted to postpone the proceedings.
“That is part of the legal process that we are entitled to benefit from. We just want to get further instructions from the court before the next session,” he said when met after the proceedings here on Thursday (Aug 28), where his team had also applied to be part of the inquest.
At the proceedings, state court director Azreena Aziz, sitting in as Coroner, rejected the application for a postponement by the legal team representing the teenager charged last week at the Children’s Court for bullying.
Ram said his legal team had emphasised the need to ensure all witnesses, including teenagers accused, were fully protected throughout the inquest proceedings.
“We have not been given a list of witnesses. Just like other parties, we also want to know who the witnesses are, especially if they involve child witnesses; their protection must be prioritised,” he said.
He added that the issue of the instruction and handling of witnesses is crucial and hoped that all processes can proceed in an orderly and fair manner.
“We believe that the truth will be revealed through this inquest. An inquest is a process of finding facts to answer the question of why and how an incident occurred,” he added.
He also stressed that the defence team has the right to oppose any issue or evidence that is considered to affect the rights of their clients, in accordance with the provisions of the law.
“The law is very clear that children must be protected. That is the basis of our argument,” he said.
The defence lawyers for the five accused, as well as Zara Qairina’s mother, Noraidah Lamat, through her lawyers, had also applied to the court to be included in the inquest as interested parties. The Coroner Court had granted the applications.
On Aug 18, the Coroner Court set aside 15 days in Sept for the inquest hearing scheduled to begin Sept 3.
On Aug 20, all five hostel mates of Zara Qairina pleaded not guilty at the Children’s Court here to a charge framed under Section 507C(1) of the Penal Code, read together with Section 35 of the same Code, for using abusive words against the victim.
If convicted, they face up to one year’s imprisonment, a fine or both.
The case is set for management on Sept 28.
