Principal never saw students’ written statements on Zara case, court told

KOTA KINABALU (Jan 21): The Coroner’s Court here on Wednesday heard that the principal of a religious school attended by the late Zara Qairina Mahathir had never seen the written statements by five students regarding what had happened to Zara the night before she was found unconscious under her dormitory building.

Shaharoom Hashim, 51, told coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan that the discipline unit, which conducted internal probes on Zara’s case, never informed her about the existence of the written statements, which were referred to her by deputy public prosecutor Mohd Fairuz Johari.

On Nov 25, 2025, newly revealed crucial documents detailing what happened to Zara the night before she was found unconscious shocked all parties in the Coroner’s Court.

The documents consisted of handwritten statements by students—some of whom had testified as child witnesses, while others were not called to testify

These written statements were made two days after the incident for the purpose of internal investigations by the school’s disciplinary unit.

The 53rd witness, Nur Shukriah Mohd Fauzi, testified that the written statements had all this while been kept only in the file of the school’s discipline unit.

Shaharoom is one of the recalled witnesses. She, who was the 47th witness, had previously finished giving her evidence in November 2025.

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