Zara Qairina's Cause Of Death Determined By Clinical Examination, CT Scan - Pathologist

KOTA KINABALU, Sept 11 (Bernama) --  A forensic pathologist today told the Coroner’s Court that clinical examination and a computed tomography (CT) scan performed while Zara Qairina Mahathir was still alive were used to determine her cause of death.

Dr Jessie Hiu, 58, who conducted the post-mortem, testified that the examination also ruled out other injuries as possible causes of the 13-year-old girl's death.

“The cause of death was determined based on the clinical examination and CT scan conducted while she was alive, as well as post-mortem findings, which ruled out other injuries as possible causes of death,” she said.

She said the teenager’s brain was already in an advanced state of decomposition during the post-mortem, which was carried out on Aug 10

She explained that advanced decomposition makes determining the cause of death increasingly difficult; however, skeletal injuries can often still be assessed.

Dr Hiu, who has been with the Department of Forensic Medicine at Queen Elizabeth Hospital here since 1998, was being questioned by lawyer Nurul Rafiqah Afdul Mutolip, representing Zara Qairina's father, during the sixth day of the inquest into the teenager’s death.

“Decomposition is an ongoing process of tissue breaking down until (only) the skeleton remains. In this case, I was unable to determine the exact cause of death from the post-mortem due to the advanced decomposition of the brain,” she said.

The inquest proceedings before Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan will resume tomorrow.

Zara Qairina died on July 17 at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where she had been admitted a day earlier after being found unconscious in a drain near her school hostel in Papar at 4 am.

On Aug 8, the Attorney General’s Chambers ordered her remains to be exhumed for a post-mortem, before announcing an inquest into her death on Aug 13.

-- BERNAMA