GEORGE TOWN – A public pathologist could not recall the total number of bones in a human body after he was grilled by a family counsel here during the inquest into the mysterious death of Australian grandmother Annapuranee Jenkins here.
As the inquest entered its sixth day before judge Norsalha Hamzah, Dr Amir Saad Abdul Rahim of Penang Hospital, who specialises in forensic pathology, was at a loss for words when he was queried about the number of bones in the human body.
S. Raveentharan, who is holding a watching brief on the behest of the Jenkins family of Adelaide, told the inquest that the doctor may need time to answer.
According to medical facts, the number of bones in a human body is generally 206.
Raveentharan also asked if the skeletal remains of Annapuranee, aged 67 when she disappeared, were crushed, deposited or whether they went through a cremation process.
Dr Amir Saad said that it was unlikely that they were deposited or cremated before they were found.
The remains were found in a few locations at the construction site for the development of a luxurious residential project named Kensington Gardens by Berjaya Land Development Sdn Bhd.
Only 38 parts of Annapuranee were found at the site, which is located metres away from the Penang Turf Club at the Batu Gantong area in 2020.
Dr Amir Saad also concurred when Raveentharan asserted that the date and cause of death cannot be accurately determined due to the extent of decomposition in the remains.
“I put it to you that the death certificate issued is incomplete as it wrongly states the cause of death as ‘undetermined skeletal remains’,” Raveentharan told the doctor.
Dr Amir Saad explained that the use of “undetermined skeletal remains” was just a temporary note, pending more investigations to be conducted.
The inquest continues tomorrow.
Annapuranee went missing after she alighted from a ride-sharing car along the notoriously busy Scotland Road on December 13, 2017.
Her remains were later found at a construction site near the Penang Turf Club in 2020, following which an inquest by the coroner’s court was established to determine the cause of death in one of the most baffling crime cases to have emerged in Penang.
She was visiting her mother here when she went missing, and it was three years before her partial remains were uncovered by a construction worker.
Annapuranee was married to Frank Francis Jenkins, who was then an officer with the Royal Australian Air Force in Penang. She had relocated to Adelaide with him.
They have two children and two grandchildren from their marriage.
Outside the court, the Jenkins’ son Greg Jenkins continues to harbour hope that the truth can be found over what happened to his mother – The Vibes, October 19, 2022
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