KOTA KINABALU: A document examiner from the Chemistry Department of Malaysia, Nurul Atiqah Mohd Noh, discovered handwriting belonging to another person in a book owned by the late Zara Qairina Mahathir.
Reading her written testimony at the Coroner’s Court here today, Nurul Atiqah said the handwriting was found in a book marked ‘W3’ on several pages.
“The disputed handwriting in ‘W3’ on pages 2, 7 to 14, 25 to 37, 46, 58 to 64, and 73 to 89 shows significant differences in handwriting characteristics compared with the specimen handwriting ‘SA’ (Zara Qairina’s handwriting).
“Therefore, I conclude that the disputed handwriting was not written by the specimen writer (Zara Qairina). The disputed handwriting on page one of ‘W3’ is a mixture of the specimen writer’s handwriting (Zara Qairina) and another person’s,” she said.
The book marked W3, she said, was a ‘Diamonds’ notebook, numbered from page one to 103, dated between Nov 16, 2024, and May 24, 2025, containing disputed handwriting or handwriting believed to belong to Zara Qairina.
In total, Nurul Atiqah examined 15 sheets of paper, four notebooks, and two textbooks containing handwriting to determine whether they belonged to the late Zara Qairina.
She added that all other documents she examined only contained Zara Qairina’s handwriting, as the examination showed significant similarities with her specimen handwriting. These documents included sheets of paper marked Y1 to Y7 and Y9 to Y15, as well as Y8, and books marked W1 and W2.
“The disputed handwriting in ‘Y1’ to ‘Y7’ and ‘Y9’ to ‘Y15’ shows sufficient significant similarities in handwriting characteristics with specimen handwriting ‘SA’. Therefore, I conclude the disputed handwriting was written by the specimen writer (Zara Qairina).
“The disputed handwriting in ‘Y8’ shows sufficient significant similarities in handwriting characteristics with specimen handwriting ‘SA’. Therefore, I conclude it was written by the specimen writer.
“The disputed handwriting in ‘W1’ and ‘W2’ also shows sufficient significant similarities in handwriting characteristics with specimen handwriting ‘SA’. Therefore, I conclude it was written by the specimen writer,” she said.
After completing the analysis, she said all the documents were placed back into their original case bags and resealed with the Chemistry Department of Malaysia’s security label.
Nurul Atiqah said the documents, along with three copies of the chemistry report, were then handed over to the police at 10.45am on Sept 2.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
