GEORGE TOWN – Two diaries became a matter of keen interest at the inquest into the death of Australian grandmother Annapuranee Jenkins, who disappeared in Penang in 2017.
The first diary allegedly belonged to the Parit Buntar-born Annapuranee and the other was owned by the northeast district police headquarters.
The police diary or logbook is defined as a diary of proceedings for all relevant investigative officers at a station or base.
Officers assigned to investigate a case must record their relevant daily proceedings in the book, the inquest into her disappearance and subsequent death heard today.
Helmi Sulaiman, who was the northeast district Criminal Investigation Department head when Annapuranee was first reported missing, was grilled extensively by the Jenkins family’s counsel S. Raveentharan, who was holding a watching brief for them, and also by deputy public prosecutor Khairul Anuar Abdul Halim, who is the Penang prosecuting director.
Khairul Anuar asked why police did not retain Annapuranee’s alleged personal diary as part of the evidence-gathering process in a missing person case.
Helmi replied that the investigating officer at that time did not see the need although there was some “discontenting” content written inside the book.
“The jottings reflected there was some dissatisfaction (from the author),” said Helmi.
Helmi also said that police had instructed the family of the deceased to surrender the diary.
Annapuranee’s son Greg Jenkins later informed journalists outside the court that there was no such book in the first place to his recollection.
Raveentharan submitted that he wanted to assist the coroner judge Norsalha Hamzah by asking police to produce the police diary for the inquest.
However, Helmi objected, saying that the diary may have incomplete entries, as police might have overlooked some details as they were busy conducting other aspects of the investigation.
To this, Norsalha said that she would make a decision on the matter after Helmi’s testimonial was completed.
Khairul stood to object, citing that if Raveentharan persisted with seeking for the police diary to be tendered, then the prosecution would also want the alleged personal diary of the victim to be surrendered to the coronial inquest.
Later in the afternoon session, Raveentharan asked Helmi why certain investigative formalities were not adhered to when police first responded to the police report lodged by Annapuranee’s husband Frank Francis Jenkins on December 14, 2017, in the Jen Hotel here.
Helmi replied that he could not recall why and referred the matter to the investigative officers at the material time.
He also could not answer why police took days to reach the last known location of Annapuranee in Scotland Road and why no tracker canine dog (K9) units were deployed to help search for her.
The inquest continues tomorrow.
Annapuranee, 67, 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.
She was visiting her mother here when she mysteriously went missing, and it was three years before her remains were uncovered by a construction worker.
Annapuranee was married to Frank, 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. – The Vibes, October 18, 2022
