GEORGE TOWN – The coroner overseeing the inquest over the death of Australian Annapuranee Jenkins had no choice but to settle for an open verdict at the conclusion of the matter because there was no supporting evidence to indicate otherwise, said a human rights activist.
Rama Ramanathan, who is part of the Citizen Action Group On Enforced Disappearance (CAGED), a coalition of 48 civil society groups, opined that from the onset the inquest would progress to be an open verdict, meaning an inconclusive outcome.
This, he said, is because there were simply long gaps and unverified accounts of how the 65-year-old grandmother died at the material time.
“There was no accounting of fresh evidence and an alleged botched investigation in various stages of the case had worsened it.”
Annapuranee, popularly known as Anna, left behind her husband Frank Jenkins, a daughter, a son, and two grandchildren. She went mysteriously missing when she alighted from a ride-sharing service in 2017 along the busy Scotland Road here.
Hours before her untimely demise, the Parit Buntar-born housewife had undergone a basic dental procedure at a clinic in Pulau Tikus.
In 2020 during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, her partial skeletal remains were uncovered by construction workers at the Kensington Gardens project site, adjacent to the Penang Turf Club, about 1km from where she was reportedly last seen.
“The gap of around three years makes it difficult to secure fresh evidence.
“Not all of the remains were found. Perhaps the land clearing could be tainted in what was supposed to be the crime scene. It is most unfortunate that this happened to the victim and her family,” Rama said.
However, Rama had hoped that the coroner could have made judiciary references and even rebuked the investigators, namely the police for alleged shoddy work, which resulted in the technical inability to unearth new evidence from the case.
“Similar to some other inquests, the investigative nature of the police needs to be improved to ensure that they are able to assist the coroner’s court to reach a conclusive outcome to how a person died.
“This also applies to cases involving death under police custody,” he said.
Without naming anyone specifically, Rama also pointed out that some quarters in the case were misinformed about the nature of the inquest including from the legal perspective.
“All proceedings are held to assist the court to find the cause of death and in Annapuranee’s case, it is most unfortunate that no party was able to present the necessary evidence to guide the court towards making a conclusive decision," he said.
Rama, who travels nationwide to monitor various inquest proceedings personally, said Anna’s case reflects incompetency, as the due process of having a concise investigative system to help the coroner reach a verdict, was muddled.
“It also proves that the law enforcement agencies from the police to medical examiners, need to review how the investigation was done and from the pre-inquest stage, perhaps on how the police probe missing persons and deaths in custody too.”
Rama is hoping to meet Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and law and institutional reform minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said to share his input on how the country can improve its standards in inquest proceedings and investigative techniques.
This includes ensuring that the legal representation is wired to the conduct of an inquest.
The son of the deceased, Greg Jenkins, and South Australian legislator Frank Pangallo told the media that the inquest was a farce as they were no closer to finding out the truth behind Anna’s death.
Pangallo plans to write to the South Australian authorities to commit another coronial inquest in Adelaide in view that there is general dissatisfaction over the inquest’s proceedings in Penang. – The Vibes, May 14, 2023.
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