<figure id="attachment_3138092" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3138092" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-3138092 size-full" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/34284d79-zara-qairina-fb-190825-1.webp" alt="zara qairina" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3138092" class="wp-caption-text">Zara Qairina Mahathir, 13, died in hospital in Kota Kinabalu on July 17, a day after she was found unconscious in a drain near her school’s hostel in Papar. (Facebook pic)</figcaption></figure>
PETALING JAYA: Zara Qairina Mahathir did not exhibit any sign of depression, a school counsellor told the Kota Kinabalu coroner’s court today.
Miswati Lundu, a counsellor and dormitory warden at SMK Agama Tun Datu Mustapha, described the late Form 1 student as “just a normal student who liked to make friends”.
Miswati, the 48th witness in the inquest into Zara&#8217;s death, said she had only met her twice, during group counselling sessions on March 5 and March 14, Berita Harian reported.
The sessions were held following complaints from other students against Zara.
She said that based on the sessions, she discovered that a small misunderstanding had arisen between Zara and a friend.
Miswati said Zara did not show signs of sadness or depression during both sessions.
She also said neither Zara nor her parents had complained of bullying or being under stress at the school.
The court also heard that on July 17, the day Zara died, Miswati had helped pack her belongings with another teacher and two Form 4 students, and they found a brown diary and an exercise book believed to belong to Zara.
Miswati admitted to going through both books, but said it was “not a detailed” reading.
However, she said, she had assumed that Zara might have been struggling with family issues based on her brief look through the diary and exercise book.
Zara, 13, had been admitted to Queen Elizabeth Hospital on July 16 after she was found unconscious in a drain near her school’s hostel and died a day later.

MatchPoint Times

Zara showed no signs of depression, counsellor tells inquest

Miswati Lundu, who is also a dormitory warden, says the late Form 1 student was ‘just a normal student who liked to make friends’.

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