The lawyer, Raveentharan Subramaniam, had expressed incredulity over retired cop Zali Hanapi’s answers. He later put forward a few theories for the ex-sergeant to comment on.
Raveentharan first asked how Anna could have gone missing when she had come to Penang at least four times a year to visit her ailing mother.
Later, he told Zali, 61, that the Jenkins family was upset over his testimony that Anna had disappeared as she was wanted in Adelaide for a “drug case”.
This led Yazid Mustaqim Roslan, who is assisting the coroner in the case, to object to the “theories” being floated.
Coroner Norsalha Hamzah reminded Raveentharan that his line of questioning should be about facts in the case, not theories. After Raveentharan made further remarks Norsalha said: “Mr Raveen, you are going too far.”
Zali had testified that he had responded to the missing persons report lodged by Anna’s husband Frank Jenkins. Zali said he did not take Frank’s statement despite him claiming that Ukrainians abducted Anna.
“I told my superiors about this claim, and they ordered the case be classified as one of missing persons,” Zali said.
He said he did not probe Frank’s claim since the claim could be bogus as the distress call came from Anna’s phone number, whose phone he discovered was left at the hotel.
Raveentharan then reminded Zali that two other witnesses had testified that Anna had used a phone on two occasions to hail an e-hailing ride.
Zali also said he did not track her last known location, nor did he have the SIM card sent for forensic analysis.
Raveentharan then asked if Zali had investigated the Uber driver she was last seen with and probed claims that the Uber driver’s family had squatted on land where her remains were found. Zali said no.
“I had never been part of such a big case before as I was just promoted. It was my first time handling a OH (missing person’s) case,” he said.
Zali said he only received three tip-offs of Anna’s whereabouts, one at a restaurant in Kulim, another at a KFC outlet in Batu Ferringhi and one of a woman looking for a job at Penang Hospital—which all turned out to be false leads.
He also said the family did not help in the investigation into Anna’s disappearance, and he did not ask them for help as it was “unnecessary”.
Earlier, Khairul Anuar Abdul Halim, who is also assisting with the inquest, had asked the court to advise the public against making prejudicial statements over the case.
“After receiving plenty of news reports and statements from Australia, we humbly request this court to remind the victim’s family from making unnecessary remarks against the inquest. I don’t want to go to the extent of issuing a gag order, but perhaps the coroner could issue a warning,” he said.
To which Norsalha said: “Please stop (making) unnecessary remarks against the proceedings.”
Khairul had also earlier asked for next-of-kin and witnesses to stay outside the court, as there could be witness interference. Later, he dropped this request.
The court then adjourned to 10am tomorrow. The inquest will last until Friday.
Among those at the hearing today was Frank Pangallo, a legislative councillor in South Australia, and Anna’s son, Greg.
Farah Aimy Zainul Anwar and Shahrezal Shukri also assisted the coroner in the inquest, while Asmeeta Rajendran and Nur Adilla Zaharuddin also appeared for the Jenkins family.