Kota Kinabalu: Most of the journals and handwritten notes linked to Zara Qairina Mahathir were written by her, but some entries were written by other individuals, while possible tampering in certain documents could not be ruled out, the Coroner’s Court heard on Tuesday.
Forensic Document Examiner and Certified Handwriting Expert Dr Linthini Gannetion said her examination found that documents identified as W1 and large parts of W2 were written by Zara, based on comparisons with her known handwriting samples from 2023 to 2025.
However, she said W2 was not used exclusively as Zara’s personal journal, as several pages contained writings by other individuals alongside Zara’s entries, indicating that other persons may have had access to the journal.
Dr Linthini, who holds a PhD in Forensic Document Examination, said her analysis covered documents marked W1, W2, W3, Y1 to Y15, known handwriting samples of Zara, and samples from other individuals identified as Writers A to J.
The 74th witness read out her witness statement on Tuesday before Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan.
She said her examination also sought to determine whether there were signs of unauthorised alteration or interference in the contents of Y1 to Y15.
“Based on my observations, the removal of pages, differences in ink types in certain parts, the presence of obliterated writings and differences in dating patterns of certain pages mean that elements of tampering in Y1 to Y15 cannot be conclusively ruled out,” she said.
She further testified that an oblique lighting examination revealed indentation patterns on certain pages that did not correspond with writings on the immediately preceding pages.
“This suggests the possibility that the original pages which caused those indentations had been removed,” she said.
According to her, oblique lighting is a presumptive method and that a more accurate examination of indented writings could be carried out using an Electrostatic Detection Apparatus (ESDA).
However, she said ESDA could not be performed as the evidence could not be transported to the laboratory.
She also told the court that Zara did not typically date her journal entries consistently, based on known journal-style writings examined.
“However, in the set of Y1 to Y15, almost all pages were dated except Y8B and Y13B. This was inconsistent with her usual journal-writing habit based on the available materials,” she said.
Dr Linthini also observed the use of different pens in certain parts, including Y10B, suggesting that some details may have been added at a different time.
She said on Y4B, the letters “hallenge” in the word “challenge” were written in pencil, while other parts were written in pen.
She also noted that the letters “tauddin” in the name “Retauddin” appeared to have been added later using a different pen.
On Y13A, she said there was obliterated writing, including the words “Jala imut” and two lines mentioning the name “Alysha”.
“The phrase ‘Jala imut’ was not consistent with Zara’s handwriting features and indicated that it was written by another individual,” she said.
Dr Linthini said she was unable to reach a conclusion on the authorship of Y1A, Y1B, Y2A, Y2B, Y3A, Y3B, Y4A, Y4B, Y5A, Y5B, Y6A, Y6B, Y7A, Y7B, Y8A, Y9A, Y9B and Y10A due to the absence of contemporaneous handwriting samples.
She added that some of the available known handwriting samples were formal writings, such as school exercise book entries, rather than informal journal-style writings, limiting the ability to conduct a more precise like-to-like comparison.
However, she said writings on Y10B, Y11A, Y11B, Y12A, Y12B, Y13A, Y13B, Y14A, Y14B, Y15A and Y15B showed significant similarities with Zara Qairina’s handwriting between February 2025 and mid-April 2025, and she opined that those pages were written by her.
Zara Qairina died at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on July 17, 2025, a day after being found unconscious in a drain near her school at about 4am.
