Dr Chua Sze Hung, 43, a forensic psychiatrist at Hospital Mesra Bukit Padang in Kota Kinabalu, said the Form One student of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Tun Datu Mustapha, Papar, appeared to have been deprived of her usual coping mechanisms on the night of the incident.
The expert, the 67th witness in the inquest into Zara’s death, explained that the teenager typically relied on seeking support and interaction with peers, writing in a diary, and, to some extent, engaging in non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) as coping strategies.
“On the night of the incident, after the confrontation (in the dormitory), I believe that she was devoid of her usual coping mechanisms,” he told the inquest’s conducting officer, deputy public prosecutor Fairuz Johari, before coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan.
Chua said that, based on the reconstruction of the alleged incident in the dormitory, multiple witnesses confirmed that during the episode and immediately after that, as she returned to her room, Zara was visibly distressed, crying and shouting in denial.
“Her peers described that it was unusual for her to do that. One of the witnesses described that she looked sad on that particular night. In terms of sense of isolation, the risk factor has to be understood in the context of the deceased.
“The deceased was someone who cherished interaction with her peers. During that particular night after the confrontation, for various reasons, her peers did not come forward to console her. That would have had a significant psychological impact on her,” he said.
In response to Fairuz’s question on whether the confrontation was the sole factor that resulted in Zara being found unconscious near the school dormitory that day, Chua said he did not believe a single factor caused the incident.
However, he confirmed that the confrontation was clearly the triggering and precipitating factor.
“The incident might have happened some other time under some other circumstances and some other destabilising factors, but it is unlikely that it would have occurred on that particular morning or night if there had been no confrontation in the dormitory,” he said.
When Fairuz asked him to read the 65th child witness’s statement, Chua described it as a very important and substantial piece of information, adding that, in fact, it strengthened his findings and conclusions in the psychological autopsy.
“I maintain my conclusion. In fact, it strengthens the conclusion. The piece of her (65th child witness) information brings us closer and provides us with more details of the deceased’s mental state leading to the incident,” he said after five minutes of reading the student’s witness statement.
The 65th child witness is believed to be the last person who had interacted with Zara.
Chua said the student was not among the 40 witnesses who were interviewed to complete the psychological autopsy report.
To a question from lawyer Clarice Vyonee Conrad, representing Zara’s father, about the witness statement, Chua said, in an ideal situation, an interview would have been better.
“However, one has to take note that in some instances of psychological autopsy, relevant records can also be analysed and considered. In the context of today or earlier conclusions made, it was based on the document handed to me, from which I identified relevant and important points for consideration,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Chua stressed that his presence in the proceedings was solely to assist the court, and his findings were based on his professional expertise, with the final decision resting with the court.
He also confirmed that this included the findings regarding the manner of death of the deceased.
Zara, 13, died on July 17 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 to be exhumed for a post-mortem on Aug 8, before announcing a formal inquest into her death on Aug 13.
The inquest will resume on April 13.