Security guard: After Zara Qairina was found bleeding in drain alone, school’s payphones were shut down

 

Security guard: After Zara Qairina was found bleeding in drain alone, school’s payphones were shut down



According to the security guard, at around 3am while she was at Sumayyah Block, she was informed by a student that a female student had fainted in the drain near Rabiatul Adawiyah Block. — Social media pic

Wednesday, 10 Sep 2025 1:56 PM MYT


KOTA KINABALU, Sept 10 — A security guard on duty told the Coroner’s Court today that only she and the student who alerted her were awake when 13-year-old Zara Qairina Mahathir was found unconscious in a drain outside her hostel block in the early hours of July 16.

Linah Mansoding @ Jaliha, 65, a security guard at SMKA Tun Datu Mustapha in Papar since 2012, said one of the students came running to her while she was on patrol at around 3am informing her that someone had “pengsan”(fainted) and then rushed to the location where she found an unconscious Zara Qairina on the ground.


“I saw a student known to me as Zara lying unconscious in the dormitory drain. I quickly contacted the Chief Dormitory Warden, Ustaz Azhari, regarding the incident. After informing the Chief Dormitory Warden, I took a photograph of Zara lying in the drain,” she said in her witness statement.

Questioned by counsel Shahlan Jufri whether there was anyone else on the scene at the time, she said: “There were no other students there at the time. They haven’t woken up yet,”


Shahlan: What did the ketua warden say when he arrived?:


Linah: He said “Astagfirullahalazim what happened, how did she get here?,” I said I didn’t know. She was already like this on the ground when I arrived.

Linah said that the student did not seem to know who Zara Qairina was, claiming that she could not see her because she was “rabun” (low-sighted). She described the student as looking “scared”.


“I saw Zara lying on her back, bleeding from her head and legs.

“I took a photo with my Oppo handphone,” she said, adding that Zara Qairina was not conscious but still breathing. She also did not touch the body.

The photo taken by Linah has been crucial piece of evidence, and the only photo reportedly available of Zara Qairina at the crime scene that night and used by the investigating team.

Eventually, four other teachers including the chief warden arrived and waited for the ambulance to arrive together.

Shahlan: What was the teacher’s response when they arrived?

Linah: Diorang tingu saja sambil tunggu ambulance (They just looked on while waiting for the ambulance)

Shahlan: Any of them asked you questions?

Linah: Yes, they asked what happened but I just said she was like this when I saw her.

In the two days that followed, Linah said that the six public phones available at the school for students to contact their parents were shut down.

Asked how could the public phones be shut down, Linah said they “turned the switch off”.

“The head warden ordered their shutdown,” she said.

At this point, coroner judge Amir Shah Amir Hassan ordered questioning to stop as it was 12.30pm.

Earlier, she told the court that students sometimes borrowed her or the others’ phones when they did not have money to reload their prepaid phone cards.

The inquest continues tomorrow with a site visit to the hostel, where another mannequin demo is expected to be conducted.