By Olivia Miwil
KOTA KINABALU: The late Zara Qairina Mahathir appeared slightly pale when a witness saw her in the toilet of SMKA Tun Mustapha's dormitory here.
A child witness, who stayed in the same block as Zara, told the Coroner's Court that she had gone to the toilet around 12.30am on July 16, where Zara was inside one of the cubicles.
"Around 12.30am, she experienced stomach pain and asked a friend to accompany her to the third-floor toilet.
"There, they met another junior student from Zara's dorm, who told them that Zara was inside cubicle No. 1.
"They waited for Zara to come out, but she did not. They waited for about five minutes because the witness wanted to use that same cubicle even though others were available," according to a joint statement by lawyers representing Zara's mother.
The lawyers are Shahlan Jufri, Rizwandean M. Borhan, Mohd Syarulnizam Mohd Salleh, Mohd Luqman Syazwan Zabidi, Farrah Nasser, and Elhanan James.
The witness did not call out to Zara or knock on the door.
While waiting, they filled a water container because the water supply often ran out at dawn. Two friends waited outside the toilet corridor.
"While looking at the mirror, the witness saw Zara's head and face reflected over the cubicle wall of toilet No. 1.
"It appeared as if Zara was peeking to see who was inside. The toilet light was on, and the witness clearly recognised Zara, whose face appeared a little pale."
The witness then went outside to join her two friends waiting in the corridor and continued chatting while waiting for Zara to come out.
From outside, she again heard the sound of Zara stepping on the toilet bowl. She did not re-enter the toilet.
Around 12.50am, the witness and her friends went to Zara's dorm to wake the dorm leader and roommates, informing them that Zara had locked herself inside the toilet and had not come out.
"The purpose of waking them was to get someone to accompany them back to the toilet to check on Zara's condition. The witness noticed that one of Zara's dormmates seemed anxious while waking others.
"However, no one agreed to follow them. The dorm leader simply said, 'Why is she locking herself in again? Just let her be.' The others appeared drowsy and went back to sleep."
The witness and her friends then returned to their dorm. She fell asleep on one of the beds while her two friends continued chatting outside the corridor.
She woke briefly around 1am and saw her friends returning to their own dorms.
"The witness only learned about Zara's incident on July 16, 2025, around noon during class. She heard people saying that senior students in the dorm next to Zara's were scolding her that night."
The inquest will resume on Monday.
Original article published here
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