By Olivia Miwil
KOTA KINABALU: A handwriting expert told the Coroner's Court today that she stood by her findings that not all entries into the late Zara Qairina Mahathir's journals were done by her.
In her testimony yesterday, the inquest 74th witness, Dr Linthini Gannetion, had said that some writing found in documents linked to Zara Qairina, were not written by the teenager.
She had also said other persons may have had access to Zara Qairina's journals.
This, Linthini said today, is based on the lack of contemperaneous in examined documents linked to the teenager.
She said she had adhered to established standards, particularly in considering contemporaneous documents during her examination.
"Sticking to the standard, if I were to examine the questioned documents, the available samples lacked contemporaneous material.
"If all of them were handwritten by Zara, I would rather stick to my conclusion," she told coroner Amir Shah Amir Hassan on the 76th day of the inquest.
Earlier, lawyer Mohd Luqman Syazwan Zabidi referred Linthini to the findings of another handwriting expert, Nurul Atiqah Mohd Noh, who testified in September last year that a book marked W2 and loose pages labelled Y1 to Y15 were all written by the late Zara Qairina.
Linthini said significant changes in an adolescent's handwriting must be taken into consideration during examination.
"Her (Zara Qairina's) handwriting was very volatile, as there were obvious changes over time.
"Based on the handwriting samples I examined from 2023 until July 2025, I would not describe the changes as gradual, but rather abrupt.
"If I do not take these changes into account during comparison, it may result in a false positive or a false negative conclusion," she said in response to lawyer Joan Goh's question on whether changes in a teenager's handwriting could be significant.
The expert witness also said that no two writers can write identically, as stated in her report, adding that handwriting samples from nine dormmates used for comparison showed significant differences from Zara Qairina's handwriting.
Mohd Luqman is representing Zara Qairina's mother, Noraidah Lamat, while Goh is counsel for one of the five children implicated in the teenager's death.
The inquest resumes this afternoon.
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