KOTA KINABALU: Noraidah Lamat, the mother of the late Zara Qairina Mahathir, has raised serious concerns over the investigation into Zara’s death at her Papar school dormitory on July 17, highlighting the lack of a post-mortem and delays in police updates.
“Our client does not believe Zara took her own life. She believes there are criminal elements involved,” her counsel Hamid Ismail and Shahlan Jufri said in a statement.
They revealed that Zara had confided in her mother about bullying by senior students, including one who allegedly said: "If I touch you, you'll bleed."
window.googletag = window.googletag || {cmd: []};googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.defineSlot('/22826383987/dailyexpress_inline', [1, 1], 'gpt-passback').addService(googletag.pubads());googletag.enableServices();googletag.display('gpt-passback');});The family claims to receive no updates from police between July 17 and 27.
“This silence worries our client. It gives the impression that the police did not investigate the death,” they added.
Police only issued a short statement on July 28, and on July 31, it was disclosed that 60 individuals had been called in for questioning.
On July 30, Noraidah filed a supplementary police report in Sipitang urging a thorough probe and revealed that school authorities had advised her not to lodge a report.
The lawyers also questioned the claim that Zara fell from the third floor noting her face showed no injuries, bruises, or wounds typically associated with a fall from such height.
Despite these circumstances, no post-mortem was conducted before Zara was buried.
The lawyers have since written to the State Attorney General’s Office, urging an inquest under Section 339(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code and requesting Zara’s body be exhumed to determine the true cause of death.
The firm also dismissed online allegations blaming the mother, calling them false and malicious.
They urged the public not to spread defamatory claims and encouraged anyone with relevant information to come forward.