Nurul Atiqah Mohd Noh, a document examiner from the Malaysian Chemistry Department, testified at the Kota Kinabalu Coroner’s Court that portions of a notebook submitted as evidence may not have been written by the late Zara Qairina Mahathir.
The second witness in the proceedings explained that the examination involved sheets of paper and a handwritten notebook before comparisons were carried out.
“After the comparison, I found that the disputed handwriting on sheets labeled ‘Y1’ to ‘Y7’ and ‘Y9’ to ‘Y15’ showed significant similarities to the reference sample ‘SA’. Therefore, I am of the opinion that these were written by the sample writer,” she said.
Similar findings were noted for sheet ‘Y8’ and two other sheets marked ‘W1’ and ‘W2’.
Nurul Atiqah further stated that a detailed assessment of the notebook labeled ‘W3’ revealed handwriting from both Zara Qairina and another individual.
“For pages 3 to 6, 15 to 24, 38 to 45, 47 to 57, 65 to 72, and 90 to 103, the disputed handwriting shows significant similarities with the reference sample. However, for pages 2, 7 to 14, 25 to 37, 46, 58 to 64, and 73 to 89, the differences are significant enough to conclude that these pages were not written by the reference writer,” she explained.
Following the analysis, all exhibits were returned to their original evidence bags and resealed with security labels from the Malaysian Chemistry Department.
Nurul Atiqah, 44, serves in the Document Examination Division at the Forensic Science Analysis Centre, Malaysian Chemistry Department, Petaling Jaya. She has analyzed approximately 670 document cases, including around 120 handwriting examinations.
