Zara Inquest: Possible Tampering Cannot Be Ruled Out - Expert

KOTA KINABALU, June 23 (Bernama) -- Elements of tampering in several documents linked to the late Zara Qairina Mahathir could not be conclusively ruled out, the Coroner’s Court was told today.

Forensic document examiner and certified handwriting expert, Dr Linthini Gannetion, said her findings were based on removed pages, different ink types, obliterated writings and differences in dating patterns.

“Based on my observations, the removal of pages, differences in ink types in certain parts, the presence of obliterated writings, and differences in the dating pattern of certain pages mean that elements of tampering in Y1 to Y15 cannot be conclusively ruled out,” she said before Coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan.

Linthini said documents marked Y1 to Y15 were confirmed to be pages torn from the ‘Love and Peace’ diary, believed to belong to Zara Qairina.

She said the diary contained only 106 ruled pages compared with 228 pages in a reference book of the same type, indicating many pages had been removed before it was examined.

Different tear marks on Y1 to Y15 also suggested the pages were not all torn out in the same manner, she said.

Linthini said she could not conclusively determine the writer of several pages due to differences in handwriting, as there were insufficient Zara Qairina handwriting samples from the same period for a proper comparison.

However, she said writings on pages marked Y10B, Y11A, Y11B, Y12A, Y12B, Y13A, Y13B, Y14A, Y14B, Y15A and Y15B showed significant similarities with Zara Qairina’s handwriting between February and mid-April 2025 and were, in her opinion, written by Zara Qairina.

She also observed that Zara Qairina did not typically date her journal entries consistently, based on the known journal-style writings examined, yet almost all pages in Y1 to Y15 were dated, except Y8B and Y13B.

Linthini further observed the use of different pens in certain parts, suggesting some details may have been added on a different occasion.

“On Y4B, the letters ‘hallenge’ in the word ‘challenge’ were written with a pencil, while other parts were written using a pen. On Y13A, the phrase ‘Jala imut’ was not consistent with the handwriting features of the late Zara Qairina and indicated that it was written by another individual,” she said.

The 74th witness in the inquest, who holds a PhD in Forensic Document Examination from Universiti Sains Malaysia, said her examination was also subject to the limitation that not all laboratory tests could be performed because the evidence could not be transported to the laboratory for more comprehensive analysis.

Zara Qairina died at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on July 17, 2025, a day after being found unconscious in a drain near her school dormitory at about 4 am.

-- BERNAMA