KOTA KINABALU: The head warden of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Tun Datu Mustapha testified that Zara Qairina Mahathir never lodged any complaints about issues she may have faced while living in the school hostel.
Azhari Abd Sagap, who is also Zara Qairina’s Arabic teacher, told the Coroner’s Court that she stayed in the Qurratu Ayun hostel on the third floor of Rabiatul Adawiyah Block with 11 other students under his direct supervision.
“As her Arabic teacher and as the head warden, I never received any complaints from Zara Qairina regarding any problems she faced in the hostel,” he said while reading from his witness statement.
Azhari recounted receiving a distress call at 3.04 am on July 16 from the school’s security guard informing him of an incident involving Zara Qairina.
He arrived at the hostel building to find Zara Qairina lying unconscious in a drain and appearing to breathe with a snoring-like sound.
Five students and the security guard were present when he instructed them to move Zara to a flat, sheltered area onto the cement surface.
Azhari noticed blood stains on the edge of the drain and injuries on her ankle while she was being moved.
He immediately called the emergency number 991 at 3.17 am to request medical assistance for the injured student.
After contacting the Assistant Principal for Student Affairs, he proceeded to the nearby home of the school principal to inform her of the incident.
Azhari tried to contact Zara Qairina’s parents but was unable to reach them during the emergency.
He called 991 a second time at 3.47 am before an ambulance arrived just before 4 am to rush her to the hospital.
The head warden also lodged a police report about the incident at the Kota Kinabalu District Police Headquarters.
Zara Qairina breathed her last on July 17 at Queen Elizabeth Hospital and was buried at the Tanjung Ubi Muslim cemetery in Sipitang the same day.
The Attorney General’s Chambers ordered her remains to be exhumed for a post-mortem on August 8 before announcing an inquest into her death on August 13. – Bernama