The bones of Adelaide mother Anna Jenkins were reburied by construction workers after their discovery on a Malaysian building site, her son has told the ABC, following another day of coronial inquest evidence.
Annapuranee Jenkins, who was also known as Anna, vanished in Penang on December 13, 2017, while on a trip to visit her ailing mother.
The 65-year-old and her husband Frank would travel to Malaysia multiple times a year to visit her mother, who was in an aged care home.
On the last day that Mrs Jenkins was seen alive, she left her husband at their hotel and visited a local dentist before taking an Uber ride to see her mother.
She never made it to the aged care home.
In 2020, Mrs Jenkins's son, Greg Jenkins, received an anonymous message on WhatsApp with a photo of some of his mother's possessions, which had been found by workers at a Penang building site about 800 metres from where the Uber driver claimed he had dropped Mrs Jenkins off.
Mr Jenkins and his sister have long held the belief that their mother was the victim of a robbery-homicide and have accused local police of not properly investigating her disappearance.
In an online press conference from George Town today, where the inquest is being held, Mr Jenkins said the project manager from that building site had presented evidence about the moment his mother's remains were discovered – and reburied – without police being notified.
"[The evidence presented to the inquest was that] remains were found by the construction workers [and] he (the project manager) then went and had a look and saw that they were human remains, and then ordered the construction workers to rebury them," Mr Jenkins said.
"The only instruction he gave was to say a prayer, and that was it.
"He didn't report it to the police, he didn't report it further up the chain to his supervisors – nothing – and allowed construction to continue.
"I believe it was a few days later, he noticed that the area had been disturbed, which we believe was from one of the local workers there, who originally sent us the photos [via WhatsApp]."
Mr Jenkins said the evidence from the project manager had "blown his mind" and left him "infuriated" and "bewildered".
"No-one batted an eyelid," he said.
"In every other country that I can think of, this is a crime — you find human remains, and rather than reporting it, you just decide to rebury it?"
Forensic Science SA later confirmed the remains belonged to Anna Jenkins.
Mr Jenkins said he believed the remains may have been reburied to prevent any harm to the public image of the construction project underway on the Penang site, including to prevent any superstitions forming around the discovery of a body.
Since his mother's disappearance in 2017, Mr Jenkins has flown to Malaysia dozens of times searching for answers.
He has previously told the ABC he believed the Malaysian police response was "appalling" and "extremely lacklustre".
The coronial inquest into Mrs Jenkins's death was adjourned earlier this year after only three days, with Malaysia's deputy prosecutor labelling the police investigation "too poor" for it to continue.
But the inquest resumed last week, and is now hearing evidence from more than a dozen additional witnesses.
