Kota Kinabalu: Noraidah Lamat, the mother of Zara Qairina Mahathir, told the Coroner’s Court here on Friday that she did not believe her daughter had died by suicide.
The 82nd deponent maintained that Zara had shown no signs of stress before the incident, despite suggestions by counsel Datuk Ram Singh that she might have been experiencing emotional distress without revealing it to her mother.
Ram raised the possibility of suicide, referring to expert evidence suggesting that Zara had not been pushed and that her fall could have been voluntary, but Noraidah said her daughter had remained cheerful, interacted with family members and spoken animatedly as usual.
She said her observations were based on telephone conversations with Zara on July 13 and 14, 2025, adding that her daughter’s manner of speaking during those calls was consistent with recordings on her mobile phone.
When asked why Zara would have jumped if she had not been under stress, Noraidah said she did not know but maintained that she did not believe her daughter had jumped, clarifying that she was not alleging someone else had pushed her and that she had yet to receive clear information from the school or investigating police officers about the circumstances of her daughter’s death.
