A document examiner maintains her conclusion that Zara Qairina’s journal entries were written by the 13-year-old, despite differing expert views.
KOTA KINABALU: A document examiner from the Department of Chemistry Malaysia today maintained her conclusion that handwritten entries on several pages of journals marked W2 and W3, believed to belong to Zara Qairina Mahathir, were written by the teenager.
Nurul Atiqah Mohd Noh, who was recalled to testify in the inquest into the 13-year-old’s death, said her conclusion remained unchanged following her first and second examinations of the materials submitted as exhibits.
She maintained her opinion despite differing views from two other forensic document examiners and handwriting experts, Dr Linthini Gannetion and Tay Eue Kam, who had previously testified on the handwriting evidence.
“I remain of the opinion that all the disputed handwriting was written by the specimen writer (Zara Qairina),” she said when responding to a question from Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan during the proceedings here today.
Nurul Atiqah, who first testified in September 2025, said document examinations were conducted using comparison methods based on established international standards, although different instruments might be used by examiners.
When questioned by inquest conducting officer Dana Arabi Wazani, she said that during her initial examination, she found that the handwriting on pages 3 to 6, 15 to 24, 38 to 45, 47 to 57 and 65 to 72 of journal W3 shared the same characteristics as the handwriting on pages 90 to 103.
She said that after comparing the disputed handwriting with Zara Qairina’s handwriting specimens, she concluded that the entries on the pages concerned were written by the teenager.
Nurul Atiqah also maintained her conclusion that the entries on pages 19, 40 to 42, 66 to 72, 92, 93 and 96 to 98 of W3, as well as most of the entries in W2, were written by Zara Qairina.
She further testified that her examination found the entries on sheets marked Y1 and Y11a to Y15b were also written by the teenager.
Zara Qairina, 13, died at Queen Elizabeth Hospital on July 17, 2025, a day after she was found unconscious in a drain near her school dormitory at about 4 am.
The inquest proceedings will continue on Oct 5.
