KOTA KINABALU, Sept 17 — A doctor told the Coroner’s Court today that the mother of Zara Qairina Mahathir was given ample time to consider whether or not to have a post-mortem conducted on her daughter.
Dr Logaraj Ratha, who has been undergoing off-campus training at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital I's Forensic Medicine Department since June last year, said Noraidah Lamat appeared calm and composed when consulted and was allowed space to make an informed decision.
“At the time, she seemed calm. I explained everything using simple, understandable language and gave her ample time to think. She was also able to respond to my questions clearly,” he said when questioned by lawyer Rizwandean M. Borhan, who is representing Noraidah, in the inquest into the 13-year-old girl’s death.
Earlier in the morning, the witness also told the court that the investigating officer in the case, Insp Wong Yew Zhung, told him that the police would not be issuing the POL 61 form, the official post-mortem order, and that the hospital could release the body to the family without conducting a medico-legal post-mortem, to which Noraidah agreed.
The inspector also told him that Dr Pavankumar Balachandra, the medical officer from the hospital’s Neurosurgery Department, affirmed that Zara's cause of death was Severe Traumatic Brain Injury with Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy.
Dr Logaraj added that the police decided there was no need for a post-mortem because the cause of death had been established through medical evaluation.
Rizwandean: Did any doctor advise Insp Wong that an autopsy should be conducted?
Dr Logaraj: No. I do not have the authority to direct the police. It is entirely their jurisdiction to determine whether a post-mortem is necessary. Noraidah, too, gave no objection when informed that the police would not be issuing the POL 61 form and, in fact, agreed with the decision.
Rizwandean further questioned whether he only attempted to gather more information about the girl’s death after informing the mother of the police’s decision.
“No. I had already spoken to Noraidah beforehand. At that time, she did not provide much information, only that the school had contacted her and informed her that her daughter was injured and admitted to the hospital,” Dr Logaraj replied.
Meanwhile, when questioned by Abdul Fikry Jaafar, the lawyer representing four juvenile suspects allegedly involved in bullying Zara Qairina, he said that Noraidah had never alleged that her daughter was a victim of assault, bullying, or any criminal act.
When asked whether any signs of physical assault were present on Zara's body, the doctor said that he did not conduct any examination since no POL 61 form was issued.
Fikry: Based on your testimony, at the time you explained the post-mortem process to Zara Qairina’s mother, the hospital did not believe there was any criminal element involved. Am I correct to say this?
Dr Logaraj: No. Whether or not a crime was involved depends on the police investigation. The Forensic Department did not perform any examination on the body.
Coroner Judge Amir Shah Amir Hassan then asked whether Insp Wong was present at the mortuary during the handover of Zara’s remains to her mother, to which the witness replied: “Insp Wong was not there.”
The inquest continues tomorrow.
Zara died on July 17 at the hospital in Kota Kinabalu and was buried at the Tanjung Ubi Muslim cemetery in Sipitang the same day. She was admitted to the hospital a day earlier after being found unconscious near a drain at her school hostel in Papar at 4 am.
On August 8, the Attorney-General’s Chambers ordered her remains to be exhumed for a post-mortem, before announcing an inquest into her death on August 13.
