Two months later, in a similar chat room, he "called for people to die" and said he should never have been born, which did "raise some concern" but was "nothing particularly out of the ordinary", Ms Sookun told the inquest. In September 2020 a "small concern" was raised when he posted religious messages in a school chat forum. When schools closed again between January and March 2021, he was allowed to be one of a small group of pupils who could carry on attending classes in person but he did not go initially because of concerns about catching coronavirus on the bus. He "appeared to enjoy studying" in Year 7 but when lockdown began, he started to struggle and did not engage as well with his schoolwork. Una Sookun, vice-principal of the Ark Globe Academy in Elephant and Castle, south London, where Zaheid was a Year 8 pupil, told the court he was "academically very able" but "quiet" with a "very small friendship group". His father also said he believed his son was worried about Islamophobia after a shooting at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March 2019 which killed 51 people. He added: "We put it down to his hormones changing from being a boy to being a man." Mr Ali said his son had become "glued to his phone" and "stuck in his bedroom" in the Easter holidays before he killed himself, but his parents did not think his behaviour was unusual. His father Mumen Ali told the hearing he was "baffled" by what had happened to his son - who was born prematurely and suffered from a digestive disorder called internal malabsorption - as his behaviour had appeared normal. A WhatsApp exchange with school friends from March 2021, which was found after he died, revealed he said "I hate life at the moment and kind of want to give up", among other similar messages.
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