Bernama reported that Justice Celestina Stuel Galid set the date after lawyers Shahlan Jufri and Rizwandean Borhan informed the court that the application had been filed on Dec 23 last year on Noraidah’s behalf.

In her application, supported by an affidavit, Noraidah said that as the next of kin, she has a direct and substantial interest in the conduct and outcome of the inquest, including its findings.

She contended that the applicant, Pertubuhan Kebajikan Ekonomi Semangat Bersatu Malaysia (Pembela), has no direct interest in the proceedings and that setting aside the inquest would undermine her statutory right to a full, lawful and proper inquiry into her daughter’s cause of death.

On Nov 21, 2025, Pembela filed the judicial review application seeking to quash the entire inquest on the grounds that it was conducted under the federal Criminal Procedure Code rather than Sabah’s Inquest Ordinance 1959.

The group argued that as the state law contains specific procedural safeguards, it was seeking orders to declare the 1959 ordinance as the applicable law and to strike out the ongoing proceedings.

Zara, 13, died at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu on July 17 last year, a day after she was found unconscious in a drain near her school’s dormitory in Papar.

The inquest into Zara’s death will resume on March 31.