Zara feared bullying would be worse if I intervened, mum tells inquest
Zara feared bullying would be worse if I intervened, mum tells inquest
Noraidah Lamat says she suggested a meeting to clarify the issues her daughter had raised but Zara Qairina Mahathir stopped her, fearing reprisals from the students involved.
Zara’s mother, Noraidah Lamat, said she proposed a meeting involving the hostel warden, the security guard, the senior students concerned and Zara to clarify the issues her daughter had raised.
However, she said Zara disagreed with the proposal, fearing reprisals from the senior students.
“My daughter stopped me. She said something like, ‘Please don’t do it, Mum. They might treat me even worse. They have a gang, a big gang, in the hostel,'” Noraidah, the 81st witness in the inquest into her daughter’s death, told coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan.
Noraidah, 46, was responding to questions from lawyer Joan Goh, who represents one of the teenagers accused in the bullying case, about the steps she had taken after receiving complaints from her daughter concerning senior students at the hostel.
When asked why she had not met the school principal or warden to address the complaints, Noraidah said she continued to trust the school administration despite her daughter’s reluctance to let her intervene.
“I still trusted the school administration because it is a renowned school in Sabah… a religious school,” she said.
Goh said Zara’s complaints about problems with senior students were not isolated incidents, to which Noraidah agreed.
When asked why she had not approached the school authorities despite receiving repeated complaints, Noraidah said she never imagined that a serious bullying incident resulting in her daughter’s death could happen at the school.
Zara died at Queen Elizabeth Hospital on July 17, 2025, a day after she was found unconscious near a drain at her school dormitory in the early hours of the morning.
‘She wouldn’t have jumped’
Noraidah also said she did not believe that Zara, her only child, jumped from the third floor of the school building, saying the teenager was cheerful, strong and not one to give up easily.
Lawyer Ram Singh, also representing one of the teenagers charged in connection with the bullying case, referred to expert testimony given during earlier inquest proceedings indicating that Zara had not been pushed. He said there was a possibility that she had voluntarily jumped.
Noraidah said she did not believe her daughter would have made such a decision.
“To me, Zara was a cheerful, strong child who would not give up easily, no matter what provocation others subjected her to,” she said.
When asked to explain what she meant by provocation, Noraidah said: “It refers to the taunts, bullying and names they called her throughout her time at the hostel.”
Noraidah also dismissed the possibility that Zara had concealed emotional distress from her, saying she did not notice any change in her daughter’s behaviour before the incident, although Zara continued to recount the taunts and names used by senior students during their telephone conversations.
Noraidah said during their telephone call on July 14, Zara was still cheerful and excited, talking about a “Kak Badar” named Wana who wanted to meet her that night.
Regarding the investigation into Zara’s death, Noraidah claimed the police never gave her clear information, and that her WhatsApp messages to the investigating officer went unanswered.
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