Kota Kinabalu: The Coroner’s Court here on Thursday heard that Zara Qairina Mahathir’s mother, Noraidah Lamat, was not ready to receive visitors when several people, including a school principal and a minister, came to see her daughter at the hospital.
Noraidah, 46, said the visitors came to the Neurology Ward at about 10pm, including people she did not know and a Minister whom she identified as Arifin Arif, while testifying before Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan.
She said she was informed there had been a convention involving school principals that day, resulting in many visitors coming to the hospital, and that photographs were taken while she was in a distressed state.
Noraidah said she later discovered the photographs taken at the hospital had gone viral on TikTok, while her focus at the time was on finding out what had happened to Zara and hoping she would regain consciousness and tell her what happened.
She also told the court that a female doctor who conducted a routine ward round the following day encouraged her to lodge a police report over Zara’s case, which she said motivated her to do so, adding that Arifin was the State Science, Technology and Innovation (KSTI) Minister.
