The mother of Zara Qairina Mahathir has filed another police report today after recalling seeing bruises on her daughter’s back when bathing her body.
Noraidah Lamat’s lawyers, Hamid Ismail and Shahlan Jufri, said she lodged the report at the Sipitang police station, almost three weeks after Zara was found dead at her school hostel in Papar, Sabah.
They said Noraidah only remembered the bruises on parts of her daughter’s back when questioned about the condition of the body during the Islamic funeral washing ritual at Hospital Queen Elizabeth I on July 17.
“Our client did not include this important information in her earlier police reports because she had completely forgotten about it.
“She only recalled the bruises when we questioned her yesterday afternoon about the condition of her daughter’s body during the washing ritual.
“She forgot about this fact as she had been overcome with grief since July 16 following what happened to her daughter,” they said in a statement today.
The lawyers said the new information justified reopening the investigation, despite home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail saying yesterday that police had completed their probe and would forward the investigation papers to the Attorney-General’s Chambers next week.
“Zara’s grave must be exhumed immediately and a post-mortem must be conducted to determine the exact cause of death and whether any criminal elements were involved,” the lawyers added.
Zara Qairina, a Form 1 student, was found unconscious at 4am on July 16 after allegedly falling from the third floor of her hostel.
She died the next day at Queen Elizabeth I Hospital in Kota Kinabalu.
Sabah police commissioner Jauteh Dikun had said Bukit Aman was reviewing the case, and police had not ruled out the possibility that the Form One student was bullied.
