GEORGE TOWN – A police photographer told the coroner court here today that he had removed the time/date stamp on the photographs he took of the purported areas where the late Annapuranee Jenkins may have passed.
Sgt Zalaluddin Japar, 51, told coroner Norsalha Hamzah that he took up to 35 shots of areas where the Australian grandmother may have gone by during the period that she was reported missing in Penang.
In one of the most baffling crime cases to have emerged in Penang, Annapuranee, 67, went missing after she alighted from a ride sharing Uber service along the busy Scotland Road on December 13, 2017.
Her remains were found later at a construction site near the Penang Turf Club in 2020, following which an inquest (coroner court) was established by the police to determine the cause of death.
She was visiting her mother here when she mysteriously went missing for three years before her skeletal remains were uncovered by a construction worker.
Asked by Norsalha if he was instructed to remove the time/date stamp of the photographs, Zalaluddin replied yes.
Deputy public prosecutor Shahrizal Shukri then asked Zalaluddin to reaffirm if the time/date stamp was removed. He nodded and said that it was common for him to do such things.
He also confirmed this when questioned by lawyer S. Raveentharan that the equipment he had used was a digital camera.
Raveentharan is holding a watching brief on behalf of Annapuranee’s family, who is represented here by her son Greg Jenkins.
Accompanying him is South Australian legislative council member Frank Pangallo.
Annapuranee was born in Parit Buntar and was married to 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.
Earlier, detective Sgt Major Stephen Ponnusamy from the D6 criminal investigation division, testified that the police made several attempts to reach out to the Malaysian siblings of Annapuranee, who had lived in Sungai Petani and Perak, respectively.
Two younger siblings told him that they had lost touch with her, Ponnusamy cited.
Ponnusamy also mentioned that Annapuranee had gone to the Immaculate Conception Church in Pulau Tikus on the day she went missing.
“She was in a prayer room at the church, according to Father Michael (Cheah). However, the priest was not too cooperative when we questioned him,” he said.
Dentist Dr Lee Wee Seng confirmed that he had treated Annapuranee for the insertion of a denture on the day she went missing.
Meanwhile, Pangallo said that the family has obtained an affidavit from the South Australian police that Annapuranee does not have any criminal records in Australia.
“Anna was not involved in any drug-related crime and was never convicted of any crime in Australia,” he said.
This comes after two separate testimonies by police witnesses at the coroner court at an earlier session, claiming that the grandmother had likely vanished as she wanted to abscond from the family because she was involved in narcotics.
Pangallo, who is in Penang to follow the inquest, described the affidavit as a bombshell, as it contradicts the testimony given under oath.
The inquest continues at 10am tomorrow. – The Vibes, July 20, 2022
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