PETALING JAYA: The inquest to determine the cause of death of Form One student Zara Qairina Mahathir will continue into its second week at the Kota Kinabalu Coroner’s Court.
The second week of the inquest will take place from Sept 8 to 12.
The 19-day proceedings, scheduled to run until Sept 30, will be presided over by Sessions Court Judge Amir Shah Amir Hassan, who acts as the coroner.
In the second week, the focus will be on testimony from a chemist to verify several documents, including the late Zara Qairina’s diary, reported Astro Awani.
Earlier, defence lawyer Joan Goh informed that the second week of proceedings would also include a locus in quo session, a visit to the incident site to help the court understand the actual circumstances of the incident.
According to her, this development is crucial as it is expected to clarify the situation before and after the incident that took Zara Qairina’s life.
A total of 70 witnesses, including the pathologist who conducted the post-mortem on the teenager, will be called to testify throughout the inquest proceedings.
Last week, forensic pathologist Dr Jessie Hiu testified as the first witness.
Zara Qairina, 13, was pronounced dead at Queen Elizabeth Hospital here on July 17. She had been admitted after being found unconscious in a drain near her school dormitory in Papar at 4am on July 16.
Five teenagers were charged at the Kota Kinabalu Children’s Court, Sabah, on Aug 20 under Section 507C(1) of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same Code, for making threatening, abusive or insulting words against Zara Qairina.
