The 29th child witness, a Form 1 student, told the court Zara had also complained to her about family issues she was facing, Utusan Malaysia reported.

“Zara had shared with me that her mother had even told her she was nearly killed by her father when she was younger,” she was quoted as saying.

The child also said Zara had never told her about feeling fearful or sad while in school, adding that the deceased initially did not isolate herself despite complaining of being bullied, experiencing stress and fatigue.

However, she said Zara started keeping to herself several days before she was found unconscious, and seemed depressed.

The witness also recounted the events that took place the night before Zara was found unconscious on July 16.

She said she was the one who had suggested going through Zara’s locker on the night of July 15 after she was accused of stealing a wallet.

She had made the suggestion because she wanted to help the dormitory mate who had lost her wallet.

The witness said she went to iron her clothes when the other girls went through Zara’s locker. She recounted that she had seen Zara sitting on the floor of the dormitory while surrounded by several seniors.

After ironing her clothes and returning to the dormitory, she found Zara crying while lying on the floor near her locker and denying that she had stolen the wallet.

Later in the night, she saw Zara going to the third floor toilet of the dormitory building, and went to check on her when she did not return to the dormitory after midnight.

At the time, she said, there were two other girls in the toilet collecting water.

The witness said she then heard what sounded like someone stepping on a toilet bowl, when she and the others noticed Zara peering at them over one of the toilet cubicles.

This terrified them and made them run back to their rooms, she said.

After waking up at 4.30am to bathe, a dormitory mate told her that Zara had been rushed to hospital after breaking her leg. Not long after that, a student known as “Student A” told her that Zara fell from a few floors up.

“Student A” is one of five teens who have been charged with verbally abusing Zara.

Zara, 13, was found unconscious in a drain near her school’s hostel at 4am on July 16. She died at Queen Elizabeth Hospital on July 17 and was buried at the Tanjung Ubi Muslim cemetery in Sipitang the same day.

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.

The inquest continues.