KOTA KINABALU, Sept 17 — The Coroner’s Court here was told that the diaries and handwritten pages of Zara Qairina Mahathir were read by her school warden, teachers and students before being handed over to police in the days following her fall and death at a religious boarding school in Papar.
Azhari Abd Sagap, the 31-year-old head warden of SMKA Tun Datu Mustapha, testified that he, another teacher and some students had gone through the 13-year-old’s writings before surrendering them to the investigating officer on July 18, two days after she was found unconscious on the ground floor of her dormitory.
Below is a transcript of the exchange between lawyer Shahlan Jufri and Azhari:
Q: But you had already seen the diaries on July 17?
A: Yes. On July 17, I had two diaries in my possession. I read about two pages, but the IO (investigating officer) told me to collect everything first and only hand them over once complete. So I returned them to Cikgu Yuslina for safekeeping until July 18.
Q: Were the diaries read before police received them?
A: Yes. On July 17, both I and Cikgu Yuslina read through almost all the contents separately. Some students also saw the diaries. There were a few pages we photographed and passed to the police that day.
Q: Where did you read them?
A: At the school.
Q: Did Zara’s mother ask about the diaries?
A: Yes. On July 16, at the Emergency Department, she mentioned that Zara was diligent in writing and cheerful, and she asked us for the diaries. She said Zara loved keeping journals.
Q: Why didn’t you give the diaries to her then?
A: Because of the school’s internal discussion and later instructions from the IO. On the way to the hospital, Inspector Wong told me not to give them to the mother yet, but to hand them to him first.
Q: What did you tell Zara’s mother?
A: I told her, ‘sorry, I have already handed them to Inspector Wong’ on the evening of the 17th.
Earlier, Azhari told the court that on July 16, Cikgu Gloria found two diaries in Zara’s locker and showed them to him. The following day, Cikgu Miswati discovered another diary and an exercise book, while on July 19 she found 15 loose diary pages inside Zara’s classroom bookshelf.
All the items were eventually channelled through teacher Cikgu Yuslina and then to Azhari before being surrendered to investigating officer Inspector Wong Yew Zhung.
The first two diaries — a green one and a purple one — were discovered in Zara’s locker on July 16.
Azhari instructed that the diaries be given to Cikgu Yuslina for temporary safekeeping while he was at Queen Elizabeth Hospital attending to Zara.
On July 17, Zara’s mother arrived to collect her daughter’s belongings from the hostel. Azhari asked Cikgu Miswati to help pack the items from her locker, during which she found a brown diary and an exercise book. She was told to pass them to Cikgu Yuslina.
The following morning, Yuslina handed all three diaries and the exercise book to Azhari, who then passed them to Inspector Wong at around 5pm on July 18.
On July 19, Miswati discovered another 15 handwritten pages in Zara’s classroom bookshelf during an inspection. Azhari confirmed handing them to Inspector Wong at about 3pm that day.
Azhari was still being questioned when court adjourned at 5pm.
