KOTA KINABALU, Sept 18 — The chief warden of the school where 13-year-old Zara Qairina Mahathir fell to her death told an inquest today that two students implicated in the case had not been involved.
Azhari Abdul Sagap, 31, said the alleged bullying incident by “Kak M”, mentioned in a 44-second audio recording between Zara and her mother, had been investigated by the school after the clip was publicised.
“The Kak M incident happened in May,” he said during an emotional outburst at the inquest, adding that the information had been passed to the police.
Azhari added that there had been no information from Zara Qairina or her mother about the incident before the audio clip went viral.
“Why didn’t Zara’s mother report to the school? That’s my question. I would have paid attention.
“Why was there no complaint? Not from Zara, or her mother, there was none,” he said.
The audio that was released in August was verified by Zara Qairina’s mother Noraidah Lamat, mentions a “Kak M” that was allegedly bothering Zara Qairina who “still had a problem” with her and had not “forgiven her”.
Azhari also told the court that another student known as “Tomboy”, whose name had spread across social media for allegedly harassing Zara, was not in the state during the incident on July 16.
“Cikgu Amit Hamid, a fellow teacher, was in Perlis for a programme at the time. I am not sure what programme, but he brought some students to Perlis with him on the day of the incident.
“For the information of the court, he had brought a student whose been viralled, known as ‘tomboy’ with him to Perlis. She wasn’t even there during the incident but her name ws viralled,” he said.
Azhari is the eighth witness called in the inquest into Zara Qairina’s death.
She was found unconscious in a drain beside her hostel at SMKA Tun Datu Mustapha in Papar in the early hours of July 16.
She was taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where she was pronounced dead the following day after succumbing to her injuries.
