By Olivia Miwil
KOTA KINABALU: A senior at SMKA Tun Datu Mustapha became angry when the late Zara Qairina Mahathir refused to admit stealing a flag pin which was found in her bag.
The child, the 23rd witness in Zara Qairina's inquest, told the Coroner's Court that during the incident on around 10pm on July 15, she was informed by several students about missing ATM cards, RM300 in cash and a few other belongings.
"When we met Zara Qairina in dorm A3-6, my roommate informed me that they had found my flag pin inside the 13-year-old's school bag. "She handed the flag pin to me, and I recognised it because my name was written on the back.
After that, I decided to speak to Zara Qairina to ask her about the pin," she said in her witness statement.
Despite repeated questioning, Zara Qairina still denied taking it.
The witness said she became angry and shouted "Bodoh! (stupid) Sial! (damn it) " and repeated the same words after calling her close friend to question Zara Qairina again.
She also said she did not hit Zara Qairina nor see anyone else hit her.
After scolding Zara Qairina, and realising she will not admit to the theft, she stopped questioning her and left dorm A3-6.
"I returned to my dorm room, A3-5, at around 11pm and saw Zara Qairina lying on the floor near her locker. At around 12.30am, I saw her walking out of the room. I did not know where she went.
"Shortly after that, when I was about to leave my dorm to go to A3-7, a few students came to me and told me that they saw Zara Qairina in the Level 3 bathroom crying.
"They also said they saw Zara Qairina peeking over the wall of the toilet cubicle and looking at them. I remained silent and continued to dorm A3-7 to sleep," she said, adding that she was only awakened around 4am on July 16 when the school warden came looking for her.
Zara Qairina was found unconscious on July 16 at her school and pronounced dead the following day at Queen Elizabeth hospital.
The witness also testified that as a dormitory leader, she had allowed a junior to conduct a spot check on Zara Qairina's locker and bag that night.
"The witness said she was in the room where the spot check was conducted but did not monitor the activity closely.
"The witness could not ascertain whether the pin was indeed found in Zara Qairina's bag," said the statement issued by Zara Qairina's family lawyers.
The witness was also told the court she had written down a rule stating, "No cursing even if others are cursing", for the dorms under her responsibility.
The inquest will resume tomorrow.
Original article was published here
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