Kota Kinabalu: The mother of Zara Qairina Mahathir, Noraidah Lamat, denied treating her stepdaughter Malianah Mahathir badly, including calling her an “illegitimate child” while she stayed with her in 2011.
Noraidah made the denial when answering questions from counsel Shahlan Jufri regarding Malianah’s earlier testimony before Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan.
She said Malianah stayed with her for about one to two months in 2011 after she married Mahathir on June 11 that year, when Malianah was 10 and in Year Four, and that she sent her to school, picked her up afterwards and, on her own initiative, enrolled her in Kafa classes at Kafa Masakul.
Noraidah also said she took care of Malianah’s meals and schooling as Mahathir only returned home for two nights a week at the time, while denying allegations that she verbally abused Malianah or treated her differently when Mahathir was away.
“If I was bad to Malianah, I would not have sent her to school in the morning and picked her up after school, sent her to Kafa school or prepared her school necessities,” she said, adding that she never told Malianah she was an “illegitimate child” and that Malianah stayed with her until her father died on Sept 8, 2011.
