THE Coroner’s Court heard that the failure of a teacher to promptly return a missing wallet belonged to one of Zara Qairina Mahathir’s classmate, may have triggered a major disaster for Zara, who was accused of theft.
The mother of student A, stated in her witness statement that if Cikgu Rohayati shown empathy towards the student and immediately returned the wallet to the student, the tragic incident of Zara found beneath the hostel block might have been prevented.
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“Cikgu Rohayati instructed the Block Leader to wake up my daughter and ordered her to meet the teacher as early as 3am in the area where Zara was later found fallen.
“She handed the classmate’s wallet to my daughter and asked her to return it to the said classmate.
“However, Cikgu Rohayati scolded the classmate in class and denied any connection with the wallet.
“She even referred to my daughter as a ‘dog’ undeserving of proper treatment.
“Such conduct is completely at odds with the character expected of an educator and brings shame to her role as a teacher at a religious school,” said the 62 deponent who testified before Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan on Monday.
She further said earlier that morning, Cikgu Rohayati told my daughter that the clasmate’s wallet had been found in the academic building by another student.
The deponent also told the coroner that Aunty Linah admitted that Cikgu Rohayati was present at the scene in the early hours.
However, Inspector Wong contacted her told that Cikgu Rohayati had denied being at the scene that morning.
She further testified that if Ustaz Azhari responded to her complaint that night and taken appropriate action, the incident of Zara being found unconscious beneath the hostel block, might have been prevented.
According to the deponent, she had texted Ustaz Azhari via Telegram at 10.28pm on July 15 after her daughter complaining a lot of losses occurring in the hostel but no respond from Ustaz Azhari.
She also revealed that when she knew about Zara’s incident, she then contacted Zara’s mother to ask about her condition at that time.
She also told the coroner that she did call Zara’s mother few times and nearly every hour because she worried about her who was driving alone from Sipitang to Kota Kinabalu in emotional feeling at that time.
