Kota Kinabalu: About 200 witness statements were recorded as part of the investigation into the death of Zara Qairina Mahathir to complete the sudden death report, the Coroner’s Court here heard on Tuesday.
Investigating officer Inspector Wong Yew Zhung, the 83rd deponent in the inquest, said those questioned included Zara’s family members, neighbours, school friends, teachers, medical officers, police personnel and hostel students, with statements recorded by him with assistance from officers in Papar, Sipitang and the Sabah Police Contingent Headquarters.
Wong said the investigation began after a police report was lodged by hostel chief warden Azhari Abd Sagap on July 16, 2025, and he recorded Azhari’s statement that noon before proceeding to record statements from security guards and hostel students the following day.
He said statements from witnesses, including students and medical officers, continued on July 18, while Zara’s mother, Noraidah Lamat, who was in Sipitang, gave an initial statement with assistance from an investigating officer there; following information she provided, police sought the school’s help to identify several students whose statements were recorded on July 21.
Wong said those students told police they last saw Zara around May 2025 and did not know what had happened until she was found unconscious, while investigators also recorded statements from senior students said to have met her on the night of July 15, students who helped move her after she was found unconscious near a hostel drain, and students and teachers who found notebooks and loose sheets believed to contain her handwriting.
