Kota Kinabalu: Noraidah Lamat, mother of the late Zara Qairina Mahathir, has raised serious concerns over investigations into her death at the 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 to her mother about bullying by senior students, including one who allegedly said: “If I touch you, you’ll bleed.”
The family claims to have received no updates from police between July 17 and 27 – silence spanning 10 days.
“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.
Noraidah said she was in deep shock when her daughter died and agreed to proceed with the burial, unaware that an autopsy could or should have been requested.
“No one advised me to ask for one,” she said, adding that her grief clouded her ability to think clearly at the time.
Noraidah said her daughter had previously reported being sexually harassed by a fellow student — a claim she said was addressed by school counsellors — and denied knowing whether bullying played a role in Zara’s death.
Zara was discovered around 3am on July 16 in critical condition beneath the hostel block.
She was taken to Queen Elizabeth I Hospital in Kota Kinabalu, where she died the next day.
Initial reports suggested she had fallen from the third floor.
Noraidah said she and her husband rushed to the hospital after being informed of the fall by a school warden.
“At the emergency ward lobby, I was shocked to see so many officials — police, school administrators,” she recalled.
She described Zara’s face as uninjured when she saw her.
“The doctor and counsellor told me even if she survived, she would never be the same.
“Her brain was already damaged. I couldn’t fully grasp what they were saying,” she was quoted as saying.
Whatever the outcome of the post-mortem and investigation, Noraidah said, she is prepared to accept it — as long as it brings clarity.
“The pain will never go away,” she said.
“But I need to know the truth.”
