BATU PAHAT, Oct 4 (Bernama) -- The tragic death of a secondary school student in Yong Peng here not only shocked her family but also cut short her dream of following in the footsteps of her late mother and becoming a doctor.
The victim’s aunt, Siti Nur Faeza Khyar, 45, said Irene Sofiya Mohd Khairool Faisal, 16, was academically inclined and excelled in her studies.
“She once asked me which field of medicine she should pursue, and I suggested gynaecology as there is a shortage of female doctors in the field.
“...and her first ambition was to become a specialist in gynaecology, and her second was to become a public health specialist, just like her late mother,” she told reporters when met at Parit Selamat here today.
Recalling the discovery of the victim yesterday, the Biology teacher at Sekolah Menengah Jalan Kota Tinggi said the late student’s friends informed her at 5 pm after the teenager failed to show up for extra classes.
Siti Nur Faeza, together with her mother (the victim’s grandmother) and the late student’s classmates, rushed to the school to search for her before the victim was found lying on the floor of the school hall, covered in blood.
“Irene Sofiya was lying there with blood scattered all over the floor. At that time, she was still alive and responded by raising her hand and writhing.
“However, when the ambulance and police arrived, she had already died by the time they checked her pulse, and her hands had also started to feel cold,” she said.
She said the incident had shocked her family, and they hoped that the perpetrator would be given a punishment commensurate with the offence.
Meanwhile, the victim’s grandfather, Khyar Abas, 69, expressed sadness over the tragic death of his granddaughter, whom he had cared for since she was nine years old, a year after her mother died of liver cancer.
Recalling his last meeting with his granddaughter on the morning of the incident, he said she had shown no unusual changes when they had breakfast together.
Khyar said the late student was a very good child and was loved by her friends and teachers at school.
“You can ask anyone, whether her friends or teachers, and they will tell you that she never caused trouble for anyone,” he said.
A 16-year-old male teenager was remanded for six days from today to assist in investigations into the murder of the student, who was found unconscious and covered in blood at the school yesterday.
Johor police chief Datuk Ab Rahaman Arsad was reported to have said that the suspect was arrested at about 7 pm yesterday in the Yong Peng area, about an hour after police received information about the incident.
-- BERNAMA