Responding to Abdul Fikry Jaafar Abdullah, who represents one of the students accused of bullying Zara, Dr Chua Sze Hung, 43, from Mesra Psychiatric Hospital in Bukit Padang, said he did not identify any other triggers or destabilising factors.
The 67th witness said adolescent suicides are mostly impulsive and minimally planned, and that Zara was very likely in a “state of cognitive restriction where she was unable to appreciate other alternatives”.
“To end her life was the only way she saw,” Bernama reported him as saying, adding that teenagers who experience psychological and physical isolation resort to emotion-focused coping strategies, including rumination, when faced with acute stressors.
Responding to questions from counsel Joan Goh, representing another accused student, Chua said the situation was compounded by the fact that the adolescent prefrontal cortex remains neurobiologically underdeveloped.
He said the prefrontal cortex governs functions such as impulse control, inhibition and decision-making, all of which may be further impaired by lack of sleep, acute stress and other contributing factors.
When asked by Goh if a person with a close relationship with their mother would normally contact her to say goodbye before taking such action, Chua said adolescent suicide is generally more impulsive than adult suicide, which is more often associated with factors such as mental illness or substance misuse.
“Suicide among adolescents can be impulsive, making acts such as calling others to say goodbye, giving away belongings and writing suicide notes less common,” he said.
Earlier, when questioned by counsel Rizwandean M Borhan, who represents Zara’s mother Noraidah Lamat, Chua acknowledged that this was his first time preparing a psychological autopsy report.
Zara, 13, died on July 17 last year 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 exhumed for a post-mortem on Aug 8, before announcing a formal inquest into her death on Aug 13.
The inquest resumes from June 22 to 26.
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