The injuries sustained by the late Zara Qairina Mahathir were not consistent with those typically caused by a beating, forensic pathologist Dr Jessie Hiu told the Coroner’s Court today.
- Injuries not from kicking, beating, dragging or the use of blunt objects
- No injuries that indicate strangulation
- Unlikely Zara had fallen accidentally or had been pushed
- Injuries consistent with fall from height
- Death due to severe traumatic brain injury
- Zara likely to have jumped
- Not possible to put victim into domestic washing machine and for it to operate with her weight load
Dr Hiu, a Queen Elizabeth Hospital expert, was questioned by defence counsel Azhier Farhan, representing one of the accused children, on whether Zara’s injuries could have resulted from an assault such as kicking, repeated beating, dragging, or the use of blunt objects.
Azhier: In Zara’s injuries, did you observe a typical pattern of being repeatedly struck by blunt objects?
Hiu: The fractures on both feet were caused by high-impact force, usually seen in falls from height or road traffic accidents.
Azhier: The reconstruction shows Zara landed feet first, the force travelled up her spine, and finally her head struck the ground. Is this sequence consistent with a beating?
Hiu: The injuries are consistent with a fall from height, involving two direct impacts, a deceleration-type mechanism.
She explained that the force from a fall travels internally up the body, unlike the direct external force observed in beatings.
Hiu: Kicking or stepping on the feet would not cause such fractures. The lumbar vertebrae injuries were caused by internal force, not assault. For assault to cause such damage, the force would have to be extremely strong, leaving extensive overlying skin and soft tissue injuries, which were absent here.
Azhier: Did you find any injuries on Zara’s body that would indicate she was beaten, strangled, or physically assaulted?
Hiu: No.
She also confirmed there was no indication Zara had been dragged or placed at the site where she was found unconscious on 16 July.
Earlier, Hiu testified that the neurosurgery ward certified Zara’s death as due to severe traumatic brain injury with hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy.
She told the court Zara could have climbed the concrete wall and jumped or swung herself over the third-floor hostel railing. The position of her body, found near drain grates at the base of the hostel block, suggested a trajectory force and indicated active movement rather than a passive fall.
“Based on the information regarding the position and location of the body of the deceased found on July 16, she had to either jump or swing,” she said.
Her testimony supported earlier findings that Zara was unlikely to have fallen accidentally or been pushed. She noted the hostel’s corridor railing measured 118cm, while Zara’s height was 154cm, placing the barrier above her centre of gravity.
Hiu explained that if Zara had placed one foot out first, she would have fallen head-first. Instead, her injuries showed her left foot struck first, followed by the right, before she landed on her side and then backwards onto her back.
During questioning, deputy public prosecutor Badiusman Ahmad asked whether she had observed a washing machine at the scene. Hiu confirmed she had, though she could not recall clearly.
“It was located next to the staircase on the ground floor,” she said.
Asked about its size, Hiu described it as a domestic model, not an industrial one.
Badiusman: Was it possible to put the victim into the washing machine?
Hiu: I didn’t check the drum size. I was informed the deceased weighed 53kg, and I don’t think the machine could operate with a 53kg load.