Kota Kinabalu: An English teacher told the Coroner’s Court that teachers and wardens gathered at the school musolla on July 16 to question Zara Qairina Mahathir’s roommates following the incident that led to her death.
Gloria Theresa Thien Pet Yee, 37, said the meeting, held at about 10.30am, was attended by several teachers and a group of students who had been brought in for questioning.
“When I arrived at the musolla, I saw about 10 students, a mix of Form 1 and Form 4. Teacher Syahadah was already questioning the Form 1 students, while Teacher Yuslina and Teacher Fatimah questioned the Form 4 students,” she said.
During the session, Thien heard a Form 4 senior mention that Zara had kept a diary. Although she initially assumed the student was from Zara’s dorm, she later learned the student lived in another room.
At around 11.15am, Thien accompanied a senior student to Block A, where the student entered Zara’s room and retrieved two diaries — one green and one purple — from her cupboard.
“I flipped through a few pages, then instructed the student to hand both diaries to Teacher Yuslina for further action,” she said. When she returned to the musolla after getting breakfast, she saw wardens and teachers reading and discussing the contents of the diaries.
Thien said the session ended around noon when classes resumed.
Later, at the hall, she overheard wardens discussing a quarrel that had occurred the night before, including an alleged theft involving a junior student who claimed her money was stolen. She said she only knew the matter through what she heard and was not aware of the details.
The wardens also discussed what Zara had faced that night, as well as her background and family.
Thien recalled that at 6.50am on the day of the incident, Chief Warden Ustaz Azhari had messaged the wardens’ WhatsApp group, instructing them to detain all involved students in the isolation room for investigation.
The inquest resumes today (Tuesday).
