GEORGE TOWN – The inquest into the mysterious death of Australian grandmother Annapuranee Jenkins is coming to its conclusion following coroner Norsalha Hamzah fixing February 21 for parties involved to submit their written submissions, here.
The inquest into her death and disappearance – followed closely by those in Australia and Malaysia respectively – took over 400 days to deliberate, with some 30 witnesses summoned to testify.
Norsalha ordered both parties who are assisting in determining the cause of death, the prosecution led by Datuk Khairul Anuar Abdul Halim and family counsel S. Raveentharan, to provide their submissions by that date.
Following this, she would render her verdict, which is expected in the next several weeks.
Annapuranee Jenkins, better known as Anna to family and friends, disappeared some five years ago along the busy Scotland Road, here before her remains were discovered in 2020 along a construction site, where she was last spotted.
Throughout the inquest period, various theories and plausible claims were presented during the hearing, including a kidnapping plot, narcotics trade, and claims that the police were negligent from the get-go.
Anna’s children, Greg Steven Jenkins (Jenks) and Jennifer Bowen (Jen) who were present in court could only stare openly after realising that the proceedings were coming to an end.
The case involving their mother certainly took a toll on the siblings, after they visited the site of where Anna’s partial skeletal remains were found with court officials yesterday.
The elder sister and brother comforted each other as they broke down at the site where their beloved mother’s remains were found.
The duo then walked into a maze of bushes, trees, and undergrowths to determine the actual spot where the bones were found – some of it by Greg himself, having relentlessly pursued the case since her disappearance.
The duo is convinced that Anna was murdered and her body dumped as in 2017, the area was just a forest covering before being cleared off to make way for the high-cost Kensington Heights development and a retirement village scheme.
Raveentharan concurred with the siblings’ theory, questioning how a 65-year-old grandmother hiked up over 3km to her death in a former jungle area.
The case was classified as sudden death and undetermined before Norsalha began her deliberations into the case.
Raveentharan hoped his written submissions would prove beyond reasonable doubt that a murder occurred, and that the police were somehow oblivious to it.
“One area in which we had brought up reasonable doubt was that the case was classified as sudden death without any initial effort by the police to first investigate the cause of death.
“Everything looks out of the ordinary here. Also, what about calling up more witnesses and ascertaining the claims that she was held for ransom?” he asked.
Raveentharan is convinced that the police should have pursued all leads in the case instead of leaving the case in limbo at several stages of the investigation.
There were up to eight investigating officers assigned to the case with the last one being Azrul Azizan Mat Rawi, who told the court that he was ordered by the prosecution to classify the remains as sudden death.
While the siblings continue to hope that the verdict can bring closure to them, they also expect that their mother’s untimely death would set a precedent such as better policing standards in locating missing persons.
Khairul Anuar said that the prosecution has done their best to assist the court in trying to determine the cause of death.
He was assisted by Farah Aimy Zainul Anwar and Shahrezal Shukri while Raveemtharan’s co-counsel was Adilla Zaharuddin.
Annapuranee went missing after she alighted from a ride-sharing vehicle along the traffic-congested 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 formed.
She was visiting her mother, here, when she went missing, and it was three years before her partial remains were uncovered by a construction worker.
Annapuranee was married to Frank Francis Jenkins, who was then an officer with the Royal Australian Air Force in Penang.
Following their marriage, she had relocated to Adelaide with him.
They have two children and two grandchildren from their marriage. – The Vibes, January 20, 2023
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