GEORGE TOWN – The Australia-based family of the late Annapuranee Jenkins whose partial remains were found scattered near a project site at the Penang Turf Club here plans to attend an inquest into her death next month.
Jenkins’ son Greg conveyed the family’s intention to attend the legal process, which is aimed at conclusively determining the cause of death.
The case stood out owing to the mystery surrounding the Australian grandmother’s disappearance in 2017 to the discovery of her remains at a construction site here, last year.
Greg also said that the family will extend its full cooperation with police here, despite “baffling” aspects of its investigation into the case.
“We received a set of queries from police recently which was aimed at my father.
“It is about five years late, as my dad now suffers from dementia.”
Greg’s father Frank Francis Jenkins, 81, who currently resides in Adelaide, is a retired Royal Australian Air Force personnel. He is suffering from dementia and a host of other ailments.
Despite his father being ailing and at times disorientated, Greg said police opted to pose queries to the elder Jenkins now, rather than when his wife was first reported missing in 2017.
Frank’s children Jennifer and Greg now hold the power of attorney over their father due to his mental incapacitation.
As such the family, Greg said, have become unsettled as they are unable to answer some of the queries posed.
Questions include why Frank left Penang before his full statement could be recorded, why he returned to Adelaide, or if he was aware of any information that may have led to his wife’s disappearance.
“We will at best try to answer the questions on behalf of our father,” he said, but added that the family’s anxiety over the questioning was that it should be done at the onset of the investigations.
According to Greg, his father left Penang a few days after his mother’s disappearance as there were no leads, claiming that police did not request to interview him then.
“Furthermore, dad was already ailing. We, his children, returned to help in the search.”
Annapuranee disappeared in December 2017 and by 2018, it became a cold case despite extensive efforts by the family to locate her.
In an effort to locate her, the Jenkins family even hired a private security firm that scoured the entire country and met as many people here as possible without any breakthrough.
Her remains were finally discovered by construction workers who were clearing the land at Batu Gantong last year, near the major crematorium here.
Annapuranee’s remains were found barely 2km away from where she was last apparently spotted by a ride sharing driver, who dropped her off in front of the Sri Ramakrishna Orphanage at Scotland Road.
The family also wanted the police investigators to ascertain if it was certain that Annapuranee did exit the vehicle at Scotland Road as nobody was able to independently verify it.
Greg pointed out that his late mother was the prime caregiver to her husband and since her demise, Frank’s health has gone downhill, and he is placed at an aged care facility.
The case has gotten plenty of attention in Australia due to the family’s relentless quest to seek answers on what possibly happened to Annapuranee.
Among the various theories regarding her fate include; was she murdered, was it a misadventure, did she simply get lost or was she kidnapped before being murdered?
Another theory pointed to the probability of Annapuranee dying of natural causes. Police in their investigations into the missing case had initially focused their attention on her family to determine whether they could have been involved.
The case has also seen the South Australian Parliament dispatching a letter to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong seeking the king’s help over the case.
South Australian Legislative Council member Frank Pangallo said that Annapuranee’s case deserves the best of attention from both the Australian and Malaysian police so justice can be accorded to the Jenkins family.
In a telephone interview, he said that he hopes to attend the proposed inquest to her death, which is scheduled in Penang next month.
“I also hope to meet the Malaysian authorities to offer the help of the Australian federal police.
“If we collaborate, we hope we can help the family find closure,” Pangallo said.
Sessions court judge Norsalha Hamzah, who will sit as a coroner, has set March 28 to April 1 for the inquest with 15 witnesses expected to be called up.
The family has sought the help of Penang-based senior lawyer S. Raveentharan, who says that the case has many discrepancies, which he hopes to address.
“I am sure the Penang people share the Jenkins family’s grief.
“Annapuranee was a Malaysian although she took up Australian citizenship (following) her marriage to husband Frank. We need to accord her the best in resolving the case.”
Annapuranee, then aged 66, was in Penang for a short holiday but disappeared on December 13, 2017, here after disembarking from a ride-sharing service vehicle.
The driver of the vehicle was subsequently questioned and later released by police.
According to the elderly driver, she had asked to get off at the said location where last year, her partial skeletal remains were found 2km away at a construction site, from where she was last seen.
In 2017, the site was a forested area nestled against the Penang Hill range.
Annapuranee had left for Penang with her husband that year as part of the couple’s routine to visit the island where they had first met and fallen in love before settling down in Adelaide as a married couple.
During the last visit, Annapuranee was also visiting her mother at the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Infirm but had got off midway in Scotland Road.
Her mother C. Mary Anne died at the age of 101 in 2018. – The Vibes, February 20, 2022
