The appeals court in Kota Kinabalu has upheld the 30-year jail term for an ex-lecturer convicted of murdering a guard and discharging a firearm. The case revolves around the tragic death of 13-year-old Zara Qairina, who was found unconscious near a drain at her school hostel in Papar. The perpetrator's daughter, Noraidah Lamat, had recorded conversations with Zara Qairina before the girl's untimely death.
Appeals court upholds ex-lecturer's 30-year jail term for murdering guard, discharging firearm KOTA KINABALU: The Coroner 's Court here heard a glimpse of a daughter's love and distress, as six of 42 recorded conversations between the late Zara Qairina Mahathir and her mother Noraidah Lamat were played in court.
Each recording lasted up to four minutes and among the clips played on Monday were Zara Qairina expressing her love and longing for her mother, as well as her frustration over losing money.
"Bye, sayang, cinta, rindumu. Muah. I love you," Zara Qairina was heard saying, to which Noraidah tenderly replied,"I love you, Ra. Bye, Ra.
" Noraidah's lawyer, Shahlan Jufri, said only a few recordings were selected as playing all 42 would take nearly two hours. Shahlan then directed a question to the 70th witness, Asst Supt Mohamad Zaidi Abu Hassan, 44, a forensic analyst from the police's computer crime investigation unit. He was asked if the recordings had ever been extracted during the analysis of a piece of evidence marked as WK11.
ASP Mohamad Zaidi said he only extracted recordings of conversations from WhatsApp and the ones played in court could not be retrieved using the analysis software he used.
"I only extracted these conversation recordings from WhatsApp. They could not be extracted with my analysis software," he said before Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan. The witness said he did not find the conversation recordings between Zara Qairina and her mother in the results of his analysis because it was limited to audio from WhatsApp and other social media platforms.
However, he added that if a re-analysis were to be conducted, the process would take approximately three to four hours, in addition to going through the required report preparation procedures. Zara Qairina, 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 exhumed for a post-mortem on Aug 8, before announcing a formal inquest into her death on Aug 13. Malaysia-Turkiye ties key to expanding strategic cooperation, says PM Anwar
Kota Kinabalu Appeals Court Ex-Lecturer Murder Discharging Firearm Zara Qairina Noraidah Lamat Coroner Police Computer Crime Investigation Unit Whatsapp Audio Analysis Software Incriminating Evidence
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