By Olivia Miwil
KOTA KINABALU: The Coroner's Court had to stand down proceedings after the aunt of the late Zara Qairina Mahathir broke down in tears when videos of family moments were played.
Lawyer Shahlan Jufri, who is representing Zara Qairina's mother Noraidah Lamat, showed several videos featuring the teenage sharing her school experiences and spending time with her cousins, including recording themselves doing the "Velocity" TikTok trend during Hari Raya.
The 71st witness, Nur Shida Abdullah, said some of the videos were recorded by herself, her second child or by the children themselves either in her living room in Kuala Lumpur or at Zara Qairina's house in Sipitang.
One of the videos also showed the 46-year-old panning her handphone to record the faces of her husband, four children and Zara Qairina while they were sitting at the dining table in her house.
She was heard mentioning each of the children's ages and asking them to remember the moment when the footage was taken.
"They are my small family," she said before coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan on the 69th day of the inquest into Zara Qairina's death.
The 13-year-old was pronounced dead on July 17, a day after she was found unconscious at the SMKA Tun Datu Mustapha school dormitory.
Nur Shida also broke down when she testified about collecting Zara Qairina's belongings from the school.
She testified that when she, her husband and Noraidah were at the school, none of the teachers apologised or explained what had happened to Zara Qairina.
"They only showed the room where they kept Zara's items.
"Why did they hate Zara to the extent of putting her belongings in black plastic trash bags? These are items for remembrance."
Nur Shida also told the court about mean comments on social media.
Among them was a TikTok account named Plot Twist, which portrayed a negative image of Noraidah and circulated diary contents even before those pieces of evidence were presented during the inquest.
The proceedings will resume at 2pm.
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