By Olivia Miwil
KOTA KINABALU: Dr Noor Aishah Rosli will not be allowed to continue giving evidence in the inquest into the death of Zara Qairina Mahathir, coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan ruled today.
"The 76th witness cannot be permitted to continue functioning as an active expert witness in these proceedings.
"To allow her to continue on the stand would cause serious embarrassment to the administration of justice, as it would appear to condone knowing non-compliance with a strict legislative prohibition," Amir said.
The 51-year-old witness, who had testified over two days since Monday as a registered counsellor and child clinical psychologist, admitted that she was registered with the Counsellors Board but not as a child clinical psychologist under the Allied Health Professions Act 2016.
Conducting officer Nahra Dollah had objected to her giving evidence arguing that the witness failed to fulfil the requirements under the Act and that her evidence should be rejected.
"The learned conducting officer argues that these objections do not really target the credibility or the weight of the opinions expressed by the 76th witness.
"Rather, they raise a threshold question of law: whether an individual who is statutorily barred from practising a profession can legitimately be accorded the status of an expert witness before this court, especially under Act 774."
Amir said the court had to balance two competing legal frameworks — Section 45 of the Evidence Act 1950, which governs the admissibility of expert opinions based on a witness's specialised skill, and Act 774, a specific piece of legislation enacted by Parliament to regulate professional standards and criminalise unauthorised practice.
"However, a separate question arises regarding the evidence already placed on record, specifically the witness's testimony and her extensive report, for the past weeks.
"I am mindful that an inquest is sui generis ("in a class by itself") which is a unique inquisitorial fact-finding process directed solely at discovering the truth.
"Therefore, rather than expunging her existing contributions, the most appropriate course of action is to maintain the current record and defer the final determination of their admissibility and ultimate legal weight until the end of the inquest.
"This is subject to the entirety of the other evidence adduced during the inquest and the concluding submissions by all parties," Amir said.
Earlier, during oral submissions, lawyer Datuk Ram Singh, who is representing one of the children linked to the case, submitted that because of the statutory non-compliance, Noor Aishah's oral opinions should also be rejected outright.
Amir said lawyers Shahlan Jufri and Nurul Rafeeqa Abdul Mutolip, who are representing Zara Qairina's parents, argued that given the non-adversarial fact-finding nature of an inquest, the strict rules of evidence should be applied more flexibly.
The inquest will resume tomorrow.
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