GEORGE TOWN – The officer in charge of investigating Annapuranee Jenkins’ disappearance told the coroner’s court today that he believed that her husband had lied to police about her alleged kidnapping.
Jenkins, 67, went missing on December 13, 2017 while en route to visit her mother at a nursing home in Penang. Her remains were found three years later at a construction site not far from where she was last seen.
Retired sergeant Zali Hanapi, 61, told the inquest that he did not record any testimony from Jenkins’ husband, Frank, because he believed he was lying.
Zali said Frank had informed police that his wife had called him to tell him that she was being held hostage by two Ukranians.
“However, we found her mobile phone in the hotel room when we did the search,” he said when questioned by prosecutor Khairul Anuar Abdul Halim.
When asked, Zali said he did not attempt to trace the two alleged kidnappers.
Police also decided there was no need to look further into the number Jenkins used to contact her husband as it was not registered with three telecommunications firms that they asked, namely Maxis, Digi, and Celcom, he said.
Zali said police dismissed the kidnap claim as there was no reason or motive for her to be kidnapped, and also because of an entry in her diary saying that she did not want to return to Australia.
Earlier in the day, Zali told the court that he and another officer found Jenkins’ diary and her mobile phone inside her luggage when investigating the hotel room she had stayed in with her husband.
The diary included entries where she wrote about her intention to not go back to Australia and that she was involved in drug trafficking in Australia, he had said.
Asked if police dropped the case after deciding there was no cause for kidnap, Zali said they continued investigations at churches and homes of Jenkins’ friends on suspicion that she may have gone into hiding at any of the locations.
Police also sought Interpol’s assistance, though it was later established that there was no record of her leaving Malaysia or entering Australia, he said.
Parit Buntar-born Jenkins was in Penang on a short holiday with her husband when she went missing.
Her remains were found at a construction site in Batu Gantong here in June 2020, about 3km from where she was last seen alighting from an Uber ride.
The inquest will resume before coroner Norsalha Hamzah on June 7-10. – The Vibes, March 31, 2022
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