An inquest into the death of an Adelaide woman who died in Malaysia four years ago is set to be adjourned after Malaysia's deputy prosecutor labelled the police investigation "too poor" for a hearing to continue.
Anna Jenkins, 65, — also known as Annapuranee — went missing in Penang in December 2017 while on a trip with her husband, Frank Jenkins, to visit her mother.
Ms Jenkins was last seen getting into an Uber from a dental appointment, heading to her mother's nursing home in George Town, but she never made it.
The quest to find out what happened to Anna has been led almost entirely by her family, with her son, Greg Jenkins, making more than 20 trips to Malaysia.
In 2020, he made a breakthrough, finding her belongings and skeletal remains in a nearby development site.
The family has pushed for a full police investigation and coronial inquest into their mother's disappearance and her death ever since.
That inquest began on Monday.
However, less than three days into proceedings, the inquest is set to be adjourned due to a lack of evidence from local police.
Claim distress call not investigated
The inquest was told that, in the initial police report, Anna had been dropped off by her Uber driver at Asrama Ramakrishna orphanage in George Town about 5pm on December 13.
She then used an unrecognised number to call her husband back at the hotel 20 minutes later, saying she had been arrested by two foreigners who were holding her for ransom for her Australian passport and would be returning later that night.
Frank and management called the police the next morning, when Anna failed to return to the hotel.
The Jenkins family claims this distress call was never properly investigated by police.
Greg believes his mother was murdered.
Uber driver testifies
The Uber driver — the last known person to see Anna alive — testified to the coroner's inquest today.
"There's been no corroboration of the Uber driver's story since day one … The investigating officer told us that, because he signed off his statement, they classed that as fact without having to do any follow-up investigation," Greg told the ABC.
He said he was concerned that Malaysian authorities were withholding important information.
"CCTV footage wasn't taken, witness statements weren't taken and recorded, so all of those gaps are getting identified at the moment," he said.
He also claimed that Malaysian authorities said they had "misplaced" records of Ms Jenkins's last Uber trip before her disappearance, which, Greg said, the company had confirmed were sent to Malaysian law enforcement.
He also said that he had reported to the deputy prosecutor that the Uber driver was illegally present in court yesterday, listening to witness statements while sitting next to the case's previous investigator.
The driver, he said, had also closed his Uber account since Mrs Jenkins's disappearance.
Meanwhile, the receptionist from the dental clinic who booked Anna that Uber also gave a statement to the inquest.
"So that receptionist was the second-to-last person to see Mum. She spent all day on the stand yesterday," Greg said.
Emotional time for family in Adelaide
It has been a difficult journey for the Jenkins family, reliving the horrors of their mum's mysterious death, but they are still hopeful for answers.
"So it's been a wave of emotions. One side the heartbreak and hearing all of the stories again where Mum went missing and the desperation from us," Greg said.
"But it's also evened out, I guess, because we're finally getting Mum to have a voice here in Malaysia by getting the Malaysian police to actually dissect, day by day, the whole incident."
Anna's daughter, Jen Bowen, stayed in Adelaide to look after her father, Anna's husband, Frank, who is in the advanced stages of dementia.
"It's just hard because you have to be normal and still working flat out this week and trying to be there for Dad too," Jen said.
She said the past couple of days had been hard not being able to tell her father what was happening.
"We can't even share any progress of what's happening with him either because it does tend to make him decline even more and he doesn't really comprehend," she said.
"More heartbreaking ,as well as that, we can't even share it with our own Dad and let him know how hard we are fighting and how hard Greg is fighting, in particular, for Mum too."
The coronial inquest is expected to resume tomorrow but quickly be adjourned.
