KOTA KINABALU, April 13 — A senior forensic pathology expert told the Coroner’s Court today that Zara Qairina Mahathir most likely came down on her own will, ruling out the possibility of an accidental fall or being pushed based on forensic findings.
Datuk Seri Dr Bhupinder Singh Jeswant Singh said there was no medical or forensic evidence to suggest any form of struggle or external force involved in the incident.
“I would rule out any accidental fall or the fall of somebody being pushed…and it would be most likely, as I said, the person would have come down on her own will,” he told the inquest’s conducting officer, Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Fairuz Johari, before Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan.
The 74-year-old expert, who is an Associate Professor at the Department of Forensic and Legal Medicine at RCSI and UCD Malaysia Campus Penang, said his conclusions were based on injury patterns, scene reconstruction videos, and medical evidence.
When Fairuz asked to provide the expert final opinion on the manner of the fall, taking into account the injuries, scene findings and medical evidence, Dr Bhupinder said there was no indication of any struggle or evidence that anyone had held or thrown the victim across, adding that the most likely scenario was that the deceased had crossed over the railings.
Dr Bhupinder, who is the 68th witness called by the legal team led by Datuk Ram Singh, explained that fractures to the calcaneus bone, a strong bone in the heel, are typically associated with high-impact vertical falls, supporting the conclusion that the victim came down feet-first.
He noted that the force of impact was transmitted upwards through the body, causing multiple fractures before the victim fell backwards.
“Based on the experience I have on falls from height and from the findings in this particular case, my findings are forensically in the sense that she fell onto her feet and hands and then fell backwards and hit her head against the edge of the drain. I have no doubt in my mind that if there were no head injury, we would not be sitting here today,” Dr Bhupinder said.
The veteran doctor, who served at Penang Hospital from 1992 to 2018 as Consultant Forensic Pathologist, said he had handled numerous fall-from-height cases over nearly three decades.
He also agreed with the opinion of Queen Elizabeth Hospital forensic pathology Dr Jessie Hiu, who previously testified that the nature of the injuries was consistent with a fall from height.
Meanwhile, when questioned by the legal team representing Zara’s mother, led by Datuk Rizwandean M. Borhan, Dr Bhupinder acknowledged the existence of a specialised field known as fall biomechanics, which studies the forces, movements, and bodily responses involved in a fall using principles of physics and engineering.
He agreed that while such a field exists, he is not an expert in fall biomechanics, and that his conclusions were based on forensic pathology findings, including injury patterns and medical evidence.
When further questioned by Zara’s father’s lawyer Nurul Rafiqah Afdul Mutolip on the role of clothing in the investigation, Dr Bhupinder said clothing is generally an integral part of forensic analysis as it can provide indicators of impact, tears, or possible signs of struggle.
Clothing can help correlate injuries with the impact surface, including abrasions or bruises, and determine whether any external force or altercation occurred prior to the incident.
However, he said the absence of clothing in this case did not affect his overall findings, as the injuries were supported by medical imaging, post-mortem examination and other available evidence, although Dr Bhupinder acknowledged that clothing would have been helpful as supplementary information.
Zara, 13, died on July 17, 2025, at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where she had been admitted a day earlier after being found unconscious near a drain at her school hostel in Papar at 4am.
The Attorney-General’s Chambers ordered her remains exhumed for a post-mortem on August 8, before announcing a formal inquest into her death on August 13.
