Zara was accused of stealing after large amount of money found in her locker, witness tells court

PETALING JAYA: The 22nd witness, who is also the 13th child witness, told the Coroner’s Court here that the deceased, Zara Qairina Mahathir, was accused of being involved in a theft case because a large amount of money was allegedly found in the student’s locker.

According to Sinar Harian, the witness gave their statement at the Coroner’s Court here in camera before Coroner Judge Amir Shah Amir Hassan on Tuesday (Oct 14).

Lawyer Joan Goh said that witnesses reported that before the incident, Zara Qairina had been called by senior students several times regarding a theft case in their dormitory.

“But the witness did not know about the case, and Zara did not admit to being involved in the case. Zara was accused of being involved in the theft case because they had found a lot of money in Zara’s locker, according to Zara’s roommate.

“Witness said they never told the teacher about the theft and they never told the teacher that they suspected Zara of doing it,” Goh told reporters at the Kota Kinabalu Court Complex, here on Tuesday.

Goh said that the witness informed her that there was no rule in their dormitory stating that students from other dorms were not allowed to enter other students’ dorms.

“The witness also said that between 10.30 and 11pm, students should be in the dorms to sleep. The witness and other senior friends were never given permission by the teacher to reprimand, scold and judge students who did wrong.

“The witness also said that the teacher never gave them the authority to be rude, the teacher did not know they were being rude to other students, they were just following past practices, because they were treated that same way in the past,” Goh said.

Goh explained further that the witness informed that when they were in Form One, many batch students made ‘barcodes’ by carving on their arms using a ‘cutter’ tool, but she was not sure what the purpose was.

“So at that time, the witness also made a ‘barcode’ by carving their arm because at that time, the witness was ‘stressed’ with family problems and was following the trend.

“The witness did this three times, once during Form One in the middle of the year, the second time at the end of the year and the beginning of the year during Form Two. The witness never made a ‘barcode’ after that,” Goh said.

Goh, along with her teammates Datuk Ram Singh and Prem Elmer Ganasan, represented one of the five students accused in the case involving Zara Qairina and they were interested parties in the inquest.

The late Zara Qairina was found unconscious under her school dormitory building in the early morning of July 16 before dying at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (HQE) the next day.