The family of Anna Jenkins, who went missing in Malaysia, have slammed local police

Adelaide woman Annapuranee “Anna” Jenkins was last seen in Malaysia in December 2017 but despite being ruled dead, her family still endures an agonising wait for answers.

If only she had been young, blonde and beautiful.

That’s the sentiment of the family of Malaysian-born grandmother Annapuranee “Anna” Jenkins, 66, who say her disappearance would have gripped the nation if she had fitted the above description.

Instead, the family has spent four years battling a police investigation they say has been incompetent and a media landscape which has given the case only sporadic coverage outside of Adelaide.

Mrs Jenkins, a devout Catholic who lived quietly in Glenelg East with her husband of 40 years, Frank, went missing in the Malaysian city of George Town, on Penang Island, on December 13, 2017.

Anna Jenkins, the Australian citizen who was found dead in Malaysia

Frank and Anna Jenkins in Macau in 2016. Picture: Supplied

But the police investigation has been so bad, the family says, that the 2020 breakthrough discovery of Mrs Jenkins’ remains and possessions dumped at a construction site only came after the family put up a reward and conducted their own searches.

Even the discovery of Mrs Jenkins’ skull and spine fragments by her son Greg during a heartbreaking search among construction rubble, confirmed by DNA tests, failed to spark concerted police action.

After years of agitation by the family an inquest into the disappearance finally started last week.

But after four days of evidence it was adjourned, with Penang’s Director of Public Prosecutions Datuk Kahirul Annuar Abd Halim vindicating the family sentiment by demanding the police do more thorough work investigating the case before the inquest could resume.

THE LAST MOVEMENTS OF ANNA

Mr and Mrs Jenkins had met and married when Royal Australian Air Force serviceman Frank was stationed at what was then the RAAF Base Butterworth, now the Royal Malaysian Air Force Base Butterworth.

They settled in Australia, had a family including two grandsons, and returned to Malaysia at least once a year to holiday and visit relatives.

In 2017 they made the routine trip, staying at the hotel JEN Penang in George Town on Penang island. It was an area both knew well, not the sort of place Mrs Jenkins might get lost as the family legal team has noted.

On December 13, Mrs Jenkins went alone to an appointment with regular dentist Dr Goh in suburban Pulau Tikus, then the receptionist called her an Uber to take her to visit her 101-year-old mother in the Little Sisters of the Poor aged care home about 15 minutes away.

The Uber driver, Tan Tiang Guan, is the last person known to have seen her alive.

The last known photo from CCTV of Australian citizen Anna Jenkins as she leaves her hotel in Penang, Malaysia, heading off to a dental appointment on Dec 13, 2017. Her husband Frank (far left) watches on

He gave a statement to police that midway on the ride she suddenly asked to be let out on Scotland Rd near the Hindu Ramikrishna Ashram orphanage school to meet a friend.

The Jenkins family say this is highly unusual on two counts – the Catholic grandmother had no reason to suddenly stop at the Hindu school, and they know of no such mystery friend she was to meet.

Her son Greg Jenkins says the local police simply accepted the Uber driver’s statement as fact without any further investigation, as he had submitted a signed statement.

The Uber driver says Mrs Jenkins left his vehicle shortly before 5pm.

At 5.22pm Mr Jenkins received a distress call at the hotel from Mrs Jenkins. She said she had been “arrested by two Ukrainians” she did not know, they were demanding her passport, and she hoped to be back at the hotel by 6pm. The Jenkins’ legal team speculates it was a ransom plot gone wrong.

Anna’s daughter Jennifer Bowen and son Gregory Jenkins say they just want answers. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

In another mysterious twist the phone number was registered to the Malaysian mainland, not Penang Island

Mr Jenkins and hotel staff launched a frantic search well into the night including the aged care home to no avail, and police were called the next morning.

Greg Jenkins arrived on December 15 and says police treated it as just another missing person report, one of almost 11,000 such reports he found were made in Malaysia between 2017 and 2021.

“We were quite naive early on, thinking the police would act like they do in Australia if a lady went missing in these circumstances, but quickly realised that was not the case,” he told The Advertiser.

Police repeatedly failed to come to arranged meetings, failed to circulate a photo of Mrs Jenkins as requested, did not help obtaining CCTV footage as requested, and told Mr Jenkins: “She has a right to disappear and the right not to be found.”

Anna was a devout Catholic and had done mission work in the past.

At a meeting on February 17, 2018, Mr Jenkins said officers told him their theories included that Mrs Jenkins was “just hanging out in the jungle” due to effects of the dental anaesthesia, or she was trying to skip out on the $65 dentist bill.

The dentist did not use anaesthetic, and the clinic had told her not to pay as she had a followup appointment three days later.

As the distraught family became increasingly frustrated with lack of action by police, they hired Gold Coast private investigators Panoptic Solutions to help work out whether it was a robbery, abduction or medical episode.

They put up a 20,000 ringgit ($A6750) reward and circulated posters appealing for information.

A local family contacted them to say their own mother had been abducted, her bank account emptied then the family contacted for a ransom before she was finally rescued.

Mrs Jenkins’ handbag contained about $A680 in Malaysian currency when she disappeared but her bank account was not accessed.

Security guards and children at the Hindu school were questioned by the family but had no recollection of Mrs Jenkins being dropped at the school.

In June 2020 in response to the reward posters the family received photographs from a worker on the construction site of a $107m luxury villa complex, in the area where Mrs Jenkins left the Uber.

Rosary beads and a cross belonging to Adelaide grandmother Anna Jenkins. Picture:, Supplied

The photos showed items belonging to Mrs Jenkins including rosary beads, a crucifix, a Clare Country Club pen, Australian coins, her hotel JEN room keycard, dental appointment card and – horribly for the family – bone fragments.

However, police did not declare it a crime scene and initially said the bones were male.

Greg Jenkins flew back to the scene as soon as he could and continued his own search.

“That’s when I heartbreakingly found parts of my mother’s spine and skull fragments,” he said. “We have been fighting for justice for Mum and have been met with apathy and ignorance and incompetence throughout this entire period.”

It was now clear Mrs Jenkins was dead. But there was still no urgency in the police investigation.

FAMILY WANT SECOND POLICE INVESTIGATION

The family are convinced their mother met with foul play and continued to lobby for a reinvestigation of the case in the hope of justice for Mrs Jenkins.

SA-BEST MLC Frank Pangallo took up their cause and successfully moved a motion in parliament last year calling on the King of Malaysia to request the Royal Malaysian Police conduct a thorough investigation into the case.

Finally, an inquest was scheduled and the witness list included hotel staff, the dentist and his staff, and the Uber driver. However, witness statements given to police have not been tendered to the court for the Jenkins’ legal team to examine.

In his opening statement the Jenkins’ lawyer, S. Raveentharan, outlined failures in the police investigation including the distress call, saying: “The investigating officer did not make any attempts to investigate the landline number and the owners of the said number.”

SA Best MLC Frank Pangallo has taken up the family’s cause. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

Hotel staff including the manager, O. Odayappan, known as Ody, were questioned on aspects including the relationship between the couple. Their daughter Jennifer Bowen told The Advertiser it appeared to be a tactic to try to discredit the couple.

“There were a lot of questions about Mum and Dad’s relationship but Ody confirmed they were a visibly loving couple, caring about each other,” Ms Bowen said. “We were concerned about some of the questions, that they were trying to discredit Mum and Dad, but Ody explained they were clearly loving.”

The evidence of Uber driver Tan Tiang Guan, 64, was to be pivotal, but the Jenkins’ lawyer was prevented from asking questions on issues including any previous criminal record or his financial affairs.

Frank Jenkins pictured with his daughter Jennifer and her children, 11-year-old Henry and six-year-old William. Picture: Dylan Coker

The Coroner ruled the questions not be allowed as the driver was not in the inquest as a suspect.

The driver’s statement to police has not been checked for corroboration, including his account of his next fare or where he drove after dropping Mrs Jenkins, although it appears this is now being checked.

On Thursday, nuns from the Little Sisters of the Poor where Mrs Jenkins was supposed to visit her mother gave evidence that she never arrived, but that the police did not speak to them until more than a month later.

Then the hearing was hit with a bombshell allegation.

A witness initially listed as “retired officer” turned out to be Sergeant Zali who was initially in charge of the investigation.

With no evidence to back it up, he told the court Mrs Jenkins was “involved with drugs”.

One of the flyers the family posted in Malaysia in an attempt to find missing Australian citizen Anna Jenkins.

He could not produce anything to back the wild claim, not even a notebook in which he claimed he wrote the information.

There was uproar in the court and a recess was called.

The family is furious at the accusation.

Greg Jenkins later broke down during an emotional video link with The Advertiser discussing the allegation, saying his mother hated even taking Panadol.

“It makes me absolutely furious and absolutely disgusted,” he said.

“I was so angry in court I burst into tears.

“It’s got the potential to tarnish Mum’s image and our family’s character. It was the first we have heard of it and everyone in the courtroom including local media who have followed the case closely were absolutely flabbergasted.

Greg Jenkins (right) with his Malaysian legal team, Asmeeta Rajendran and S. Raveentharan. Picture: Supplied

“This same officer once told a colleague that I give him a headache, that this case gives him a headache, and he wants to retire soon.”

Mr Jenkins suspects the police are concerned about their image as more information comes to light about the slack investigation – he noted Sergeant Zali repeatedly could not remember details or had no documents about the investigation while giving evidence.

The Jenkins legal team has asked that a stop-work order be put on the construction site in case more evidence can be found. They also intend to ask the Coroner to hold a sitting at the construction site, to make the point of why the grandmother would have clambered through nearly 2km of jungle from where she reportedly left the Uber.

However, this will be at a later date to be fixed following the adjournment and order to police to get more information, prolonging a nightmare for the family dragging into 4½ years.

‘YOUNG, GOOD-LOOKING AND CAUCASIAN’

The family are enormously grateful to supporters such as Mr Pangallo and the Australian media, saying coverage keeps the pressure on authorities.

However, Greg Jenkins did agree with a suggestion made during a press conference that if the missing woman had been “young, good-looking and caucasian” the case may have received more prominence.

He is hoping the inquest results in a new, thorough investigation into the case but wants a new police team.

“We don’t want to go through the same bullcrap we have dealt with so far,” he said.

Mr Jenkins said the adjournment was frustrating but the family took solace that it is being done in order for police to make a more concerted effort to investigate all aspects of the case including the origin of the distress call and the identity of the mystery “friend” at the Hindu site – if one exists.

“From my end it was heartbreaking to hear there is going to be an adjournment, but I am happy with the DPP who has identified all those gaps (in the police investigation) that we’ve been screaming about for the last 4½ years,” he said.

“We’ve got a mix of emotions; it’s frustrating it is going to be adjourned and we can’t get a date on when it will be adjourned to.”

Anna’s husband Frank Jenkins and their daughter Jennifer Bowen. Picture Matt Turner

Jennifer Bowen said the family was still “holding their breath” to see if full details of what happened to their mother are finally revealed.

“It is hard to think about any kind of closure because every time we think it is around the corner the goalposts change,” she said.

There is no date for the inquest to resume.

Mrs Jenkins’ remains are still in Penang.

The cause of her death remains unknown.

If there was foul play there are no known suspects.

But the Jenkins family will continue the fight for justice and the truth about what happened to an Australian woman who simply disappeared on the way to visit her mother.