Kota Kinabalu: A registered counsellor, who had testified for two days at the inquest into the death of Zara Qairina Mahathir, was not allowed to continue her testimony following concerns that she was not registered as a Child Clinical Psychologist under the Malaysian Allied Health Professions Council (MAHPC) Act 2016.
Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan made the order on Wednesday after hearing arguments and submissions from all parties with an interest in the inquest, involving Dr Noor Aishah Rosli who was the 76th deponent in the inquest.
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In making the order, the coroner said the objection raised by the learned Conducting Officer is sustained in part.
“Respectfully, and without prejudice to her academic or empirical expertise, the 76th deponent is not allowed to continue providing further expert opinion in this inquest.
“The oral testimony and documentary evidence already tendered by her including Exhibit I-299, shall be maintained on the record.
“The legal status of Exhibit I-299 (whether it will be admitted as expert opinion, restricted to factual narrative, or to be excluded in its entirety) and the weight to be attached to her evidence are reserved.
“These issues will be subject to final analysis and as I have said earlier, further submissions by all parties in view of the totality of the evidence at the close of this inquest.
“Consequently, the inquest will resume tomorrow morning (Thursday) at 9am with the recalling of the 75th deponent,” said the Coroner.
On Tuesday, Dr Noor Aishah had acknowledged that she is not registered as a Child Clinical Psychologist under the Malaysian Allied Health Professions Council (MAHPC) 2016.
The matter arose after Conducting Officer Nahrah Dollah questioned whether she was aware of the MAHPC.
However, Dr Noor Aishah Rosli maintained that she practises under her registration with the Malaysian Board of Counsellors.
The Conducting Officer team and counsel representing the five teenagers charged in the Court for Children in relation to Zara’s incident had objected to the 76th deponent continuing her testimony in court.
On Wednesday, the Conducting Officer team submitted that the 76th deponent was not qualified to testify as an expert in the capacity claimed under the Allied Health Professions Act 2016 and sought to prevent her from providing any further expert opinion evidence.
The team also sought that no weight be given to, or alternatively that any opinion evidence already adduced, including the report prepared by the deponent (I-299), which purportedly reflected expert capacity, be expunged.
Meanwhile, the legal team representing Zara’s mother, led by Shahlan Jufri, submitted that Dr Noor should be allowed to continue her testimony, arguing that the objection should not result in automatic exclusion.
They said any concerns regarding her qualifications, registration or permissible field of opinion could instead be addressed through examination, cross-examination and appropriate limitations on the scope of her evidence.
Counsel Nurul Rafeeqa Afdul Mutolip, together with counsel Clarice Vyonne Conrad, representing Zara’s father Mahathir Hashim Marikin, submitted that the 76th deponent should be permitted to continue giving evidence before the court.
Nurul submitted that if Deponent 76 was not permitted to continue giving evidence, the testimony already given by the 76th deponent should not be rendered inadmissible and should remain part of the evidence before the court unless any relevant party applies for the testimony to be expunged.
Meanwhile, counsels Datuk Ram Singh and Joan Goh, in their submissions, applied for Dr Aishah to be disqualified as a deponent in the inquest and stopped from giving further evidence.
They also sought for Exhibit I-299 to be rejected or wholly disregarded as expert opinion, and for all expert evidence already given by her to be excluded from the Coroner’s consideration.
