Review handling of missing persons cases, urge Jenkins family

GEORGE TOWN – The family of an Australian grandmother, whose remains were finally found after she went missing for over two years here, hope that police will reform the way they handle a missing persons investigation.

Greg Jenkins, the son of the deceased, said there needs to be urgency in responding when someone goes missing, regardless if police have their suspicions about the cases, which may inhibit their response time.

“We should not allow presumptions or common social beliefs to distract us from understanding the fact that someone’s loved one has just gone missing.”

It is understood that police initially believed that a family squabble could have been the cause of Jenkins’ mother having vanished.

Jenkins’ mother Annapuranee disappeared on December 13, 2017 along the bustling Scotland Road here after exiting from a ride-sharing service vehicle.

She had asked to get off, according to the elderly driver, and close to three years later, her skeletal remains were found 2km from where she was last seen in one of the most baffling criminal cases to have surfaced in Penang.

The case has stupefied the public that in the age of personal locators and global positioning systems, a person can still end up missing or lost in an urban setting.

Annapuranee’s remains were found inside a cleared construction site for bungalows, adjacent to the Penang Turf Club’s race course in Batu Gantong.

Two years ago, the site was a forestry area nestled against the Penang Hill range.

Jenkins recalled the day that his mother, a Parit Buntar-born woman who was married to retired Royal Australian Air Force member Frank Jenkins, had left for Penang.

It was part of the pair’s routine visit to the island where they had first met and fallen in love before resettling in Adelaide as a married couple.

They had two children – Steven and Jennifer – as well as two grandchildren.

“It was a routine visit as my grandmother was a resident at the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Infirm, and my mum (Annapuranee) wanted to check up on her. Everything was as per normal and we exchanged our goodbyes.”

But in the ensuing days, the Jenkins’ family life was turned upside down when Annapuranee vanished en route to visiting her mother.

The initial investigation was unfruitful, and Jenkins, who serves in the Australian military, mounted his own extensive search for his mother in Malaysia.

Nothing turned up for two years, but he refused to give up even though cracks began to emerge within the family as his father became ill with bouts of dementia and Jennifer had to care for him.

His grandmother died last year at the age of 101 here.

“What struck me was that police seemed to have concluded that it was a family squabble almost instantly. But my father was never asked to have his statement recorded.”

To Jenkins, there is a need for police to revise how a missing persons case is managed from the onset to its conclusion.

He felt that if the public was engaged earlier to be part of the search, his mother could have been found.

After all, her remains were discovered near where she was last reportedly seen.

He implored police to engage the public more when seeking missing persons, saying good citizenry is often present in society.

“It is too late for us, but for those who have just recorded a missing person in their family, I hope that police will take the appropriate steps to reunite them with their missing loved ones.”

Jenkins hopes that the peculiarity of his case can become a lesson for police to remodel how they respond to such cases.

George Town district police head Asst Comm Soffian Santong said officers followed the procedures after they were notified of the remains.

Lawyers for Justice movement coordinator Yusmadi Yusoff said the case involves the image of Malaysia as a tourist destination.

The country needs to curtail the growing rate of missing individuals, he added.

Kebun Bunga assemblyman Jason Ong Khan Lee echoed Yusmadi’s take, saying reuniting people with their loved ones can become one of police’s best skills, as it is both emotionally uplifting and rewarding for an officer.

Jenkins has appointed S. Raveentharan as his solicitor.

Raveentharan said he has yet to receive an update on the case, but hopes that police will find a way to bring closure for the Jenkins family, who are anxious to determine what happened to their mother and wife.

Criminologist Prof Datuk Dr P. Sundramoorthy said there are many reasons associated with missing persons, among them kidnapping, a family quarrel, an illness, murder or suicide.

“It is tough for any police force in the world to investigate a missing persons case due to the varied nature of the disappearance.”

At times, police cannot alert the public as it may involve kidnapping, or in some cases, a Nur alert is launched when it concerns children.

A thorough investigation is a must to improve the handling of missing persons cases, said Sundramoorthy. – The Vibes, September 19, 2020