KOTA KINABALU: A forensic pathologist informed the Coroner’s Court that clinical examination and a computed tomography scan conducted while Zara Qairina Mahathir was alive were instrumental in determining her cause of death.
Dr Jessie Hiu, who performed the post-mortem, testified that these medical assessments also eliminated other injuries as potential causes for the 13-year-old’s death.
She explained that the teenager’s brain was in an advanced state of decomposition during the August 10 post-mortem examination.
Advanced decomposition complicates determining the exact cause of death, though skeletal injuries can often still be evaluated according to her testimony.
Dr Hiu has been with the Department of Forensic Medicine at Queen Elizabeth Hospital since 1998 and provided this testimony during the sixth day of the inquest.
She stated that decomposition is a continuous process of tissue breakdown until only the skeleton remains, making precise cause-of-death determination impossible in this case.
Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan will resume the inquest proceedings tomorrow.
Zara Qairina died on July 17 at Queen Elizabeth Hospital after being admitted unconscious from a drain near her school hostel in Papar on July 16.
The Attorney General’s Chambers ordered her remains exhumed for post-mortem on August 8 before announcing the inquest into her death on August 13. – Bernama