Kota Kinabalu: A teacher-cum-warden who was transferred after the Zara incident confirmed that CCTV was installed at the school hostel after her death.
Yuslina Badrum, who continued her testimony in the Zara inquest on Friday, revealed the matter to counsel Datuk Ram Singh.
Ram: Was any CCTV appliances installed?
Yuslina: Yes.
Ram: Where?
Yuslina: Since I’m not a warden anymore, I have no idea where the CCTVs are placed, but I’m very sure that there are.
Ram: Functioning or not?
Yuslina: Functioning.
To a question from Ram, Yuslina said there are a lot of factors that would contribute to the way a person takes a drastic action like this (incident) and that she would not say the responsibility goes 100 per cent to the wardens.
Ram had referred Yuslina to two photos believed to be from Zara’s diary that were posted in the warden WhatsApp group.
Ram: On those dates, I would assume Zahra has not started school in SMKA, TDM?
Yuslina: Yes, correct.
Ram: So, on Dec 8 and 9, 2024, Zara could have been in school.
Yuslina: Yes.
Ram: As a teacher, have you read those notes on Dec 8 and 9, 2024?
Yuslina: Yes, I have, when the diary was handed to me.
Ram: If you look at the two pages, what is your perception towards those that were written there?
Yuslina: From my perception, the student had something that she was doing secretly, which was vaping. And this is considered a misconduct if she was found doing it at school. And also, I think perhaps this is just the way she expressed herself by writing in the diary.
Ram: And are you sure that this handwriting belongs to Zara?
Yuslina: If I were to compare this to the other documents, yes, it is consistent to the other handwriting in the other books.
Ram: And it is somewhere down the line on Dec 8, 2024 that it is written, ‘pastu pisauku semua buang dalam tong sampah’. What is your perception as a teacher of these words?
Yuslina: Students shouldn’t have any sharp objects in their position. And from my reading, she had done something before with a knife… which was doing barcode.
Ram: And how do you know about barcode?
Yuslina: In the same book, it was mentioned in other pages.
Ram: When you or any teachers read the diaries, did any one of you notify Zara’s mother?
Yuslina: Not to my knowledge.
Ram: Obviously, such revelation...revelation means when you find out this note, it is important to contact the parents, correct?
Yuslina: I’m not so sure about this. It could be an evidence. At that time, I was not aware of it.
Ram: And wouldn’t it be prudent that after finding out this note, it is best to hand over to the police?
Yuslina: Yes and that was exactly what we did.
She told the coroner that she did not inform Zara’s parents about the discovery of the diaries.
About her perception on the word “pergi mati” as a teacher, Yuslina said she don’t know adding that, perhaps it’s just a random topic for a book to express herself.
Yuslina added that in the book (written pergi mati) there was nothing written inside, as far as her concerned.
