In a statement, Sabah court officer Cindy Mc Juce Balitus said the application by Suhakam was granted by judge Elsie Primus during closed-door proceedings here today.

“The prosecution has served 15 documents on the first (alleged) child offender and 18 documents each on the other four (alleged) child offenders, pursuant to Section 51A of the Criminal Procedure Code,” she said.

She added that an additional five documents would be served on all the alleged child offenders at the next pre-trial case management on Oct 16, and that the trial would proceed as scheduled from Dec 9 to Dec 20.

At the proceedings earlier, deputy public prosecutors Nor Azizah Mohamad, Nik Haslinie Hashim and Deepa Nair Thevaharan appeared for the prosecution.

Four of the accused were represented by counsel Azhier Farhan Arisin, Abdul Fikry Jaafar Abdullah, Fareez Salleh and Sylyester Kuan, while the remaining accused was represented by counsel Ram Singh, Joan Goh and Prem Elmer Ganasan.

The five teenage girls were charged on Aug 20 in the Kota Kinabalu children’s court in connection with the bullying of the late 13-year-old Zara.

The charge was brought under Section 507C(1) of the Penal Code for allegedly using or making threatening, abusive, or insulting words or communication.

Zara died on July 17 at Queen Elizabeth Hospital and was buried at the Tanjung Ubi Muslim cemetery in Sipitang the same day. She was admitted to hospital a day earlier after being found unconscious at 4am near a drain at her school hostel in Papar.

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