KOTA KINABALU, Sept 7 — Police have arrested a 61-year-old man in Semporna for allegedly threatening the pathologist testifying in Zara Qairina’s inquest.
Sabah police commissioner Datuk Jauteh Dikun stated that the suspect was detained around 7am today in the compound of the Semporna district police headquarters.
Police made the arrest after a report filed last Friday about criminal threats, which were posted on Facebook, targeting Dr Jessie Hiu, a pathologist at the Forensic Department of Queen Elizabeth Hospital I.
"An initial inspection of a confiscated Redmi mobile phone found that the suspect is the owner of the Facebook account Amung Kamaruddin, which posted the threat against the pathologist," he said in a statement today.
The case is being investigated under Section 507 of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
Jauteh advised the public to use social media with restraint and responsibility, particularly regarding statements that could threaten public order or provoke social unrest.
Zara Qairina, 13, 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 4am.
The Attorney-General's Chambers ordered her remains exhumed for a post-mortem on August 8, before announcing a formal inquest into her death on August 13.
