GREGORY Steven Jenkins hailed the High Court's decision yesterday which upheld the coroner’s open verdict in the death of his mother - Australian national Annapuranee Jenkins, also known as Anna Jenkins, saying there was no conclusive evidence to classify her death as homicide.
He saw the decision was a small victory in his painstaking pursuit of justice which is now into its eighth year.
Gregory said he is encouraged by the remarks from Justice Rofiah Mohamad that there are grounds for police to further investigate the mysterious disappearance and subsequent discovery of Annapuranee’s remains.
Judge Rofiah Mohamad ruled that the cause of Anna’s death could not be determined with the highest level of certainty based on the evidence presented during the inquest.
“There is no denying that homicide is a serious allegation that must be considered by the Coroner. While there may be indications of third-party involvement, it remains speculation,” she said in delivering the High Court's decision to maintain the Coroner’s original ruling.
She added, “The condition of the bones found does reasonably infer the possible involvement of another party, but this remains speculative.”
Gregory has maintained all these years that the family was convinced that his mother was murdered when she mysteriously went missing after reportedly alighting from a ride sharing service along the busy Scotland Road in December 2017.
Annapuranee or Anna to family and friends had just left a dentist office in Pulau Tikus with an intention to visit her now deceased mother at the Little Sisters' of the Poor Home for the Infirm at Batu Lanchang, some 6km away.
Gregory welcomed the court's stance, stating that the earlier decision was made prematurely before more evidence which he had personally unearthed, was presented.
Anna, 65, an Australian national was born in Parit Buntar, Perak.
Her skeletal remains were found at a construction site near the race course in Batu Gantong three years after her disappearance, but a coroner was unable to determine the cause of death.
Unhappy with the coroner’s findings, her surviving children Gregory and Jennifer, had filed for a revision.
Gregory said a post-mortem report by South Australian forensic authorities, which was not admissible as evidence in the Malaysian court, had found that his mother had been murdered by blunt force trauma.
“There’s still time for the DPPs to make things right and give mum the justice she deserves. This fight is bigger than mum. It’s about justice for everyone who has been let down by a system that refuses to investigate properly," said Gregory.
He also called for further forensic work at the construction site where his mother's remains were found, saying many of her bones were still missing.
“We found 34 bones and fragments. There are 206 bones in the human body. Where are the rest of the bones?” he said.
Gregory is also seeking for help from the Australian consular services to subsidise the personal costs which the family has to bear in the quest to find out what had actually befallen his mother here. - April 29, 2025.
