KOTA KINABALU, April 1 — A young girl, previously not listed as a witness, gave testimony yesterday at the inquest into the death of Form One student Zara Qairina Mahathir at the Coroner’s Court here.

Shahlan Jufri, lawyer representing Zara Qairina’s mother, said the 65th child witness, a senior student at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Tun Datu Mustapha, Papar, presented a new account and chronology of the incident involving the teenager on July 16 last year before Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan.

“Last year, we said the child witnesses had completed their testimony… it was done. This year, a child witness came forward with a new story, a totally different chronology of events.

“The child witness also mentioned several students and recounted what happened on the night of the incident to her mother in general, two or three months after it occurred,” he told reporters after yesterday’s proceedings.

Shahlan said the witness came forward after revealing her account on the night of the incident, before Zara Qairina was found unconscious in the dormitory, to her mother.

According to Shahlan, the child’s mother then contacted a teacher at the school, prompting the witness to give her testimony in detail.

“Based on the witness’s account yesterday, it was only this year that she provided detailed testimony to the police,” he added, noting that the child’s testimony was not yet complete and proceedings will continue tomorrow.

Meanwhile, lawyer Joan Goh, who is representing a child involved in the bullying case of Zara Qairina, said the child witness, believed to be the last person with Zara Qairina, revealed her account of the night before the tragic incident, during Ramadan this year.

Sharing the witness’s statement, Joan said the witness saw Zara Qairina pacing near the dormitory toilets, greeted her, and spoke with her for about 10 minutes.

“Then she (the child witness) brought Zara back to her dorm and saw Zara enter the dorm, then she closed the dorm door and returned to her own dorm at block B,” Joan said.

She added that the child witness went to Block A to visit a friend’s room around 1 to 2 am, but after finding her friend asleep, she closed the door to return to her own room and saw Zara Qairina in the third-floor corridor.

Joan said the mother of the child witness would also give her testimony tomorrow.

Zara Qairina, 13, died at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on July 17, 2025, a day after being found unconscious in a drain near her school dormitory at around 4 am.

On August 13, 2025, the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) ordered the inquest following a review of the police investigation report.

On August 8, 2025, the AGC issued an order to exhume the late girl’s body to allow a post-mortem to be conducted. — Bernama