Nor Asima Zaiton, an English teacher at SMKA Tun Datu Mustapha, said she rushed to the hostel after receiving a call from head warden Azhari Abd Sagap on the day Zara was found unconscious.

“I did not know Zara personally, as I did not teach her. I only accompanied her to the hospital. During the journey, I helped paramedics bandage her left hand, and saw tears running down her cheeks when I called her name.

“Her leg was still bleeding when she was in the ambulance. After arriving at the hospital, I contacted her mother to inform her of our arrival. I remained at the hospital until 1pm,” Bernama reported Asima, who is also a dormitory warden, as saying.

The 55th witness was replying to questions by deputy public prosecutor Fairuz Johari during the inquest into Zara’s death before coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan.

Asima, 49, said she also handed over the clothes Zara had been wearing to her mother’s cousin while she was at the hospital.

Zara died at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu on July 17, a day after she was found unconscious in a drain near her school dormitory in Papar.

The inquest continues.