Nurul Huda Bustami, the investigating officer in the case and the 12th witness called up by the inquiry, said several reports were lodged in June 2014 by members of a group who were dissatisfied with a Facebook post allegedly made by Joshua.

They claimed Joshua had insulted their religion and their God in the post, urging the authorities to take action against him. Nurul said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) could not locate the said post.

She also said she failed to get in touch with Joshua despite numerous phone calls and checks on addresses linked to him.

The Attorney-General’s Chambers then classified the case as no further action (NFA) in November after the police could not record Joshua’s statement and failed to obtain new leads.

Joshua was also placed on the police wanted list for a month after he could not be contacted. Nurul said she had attempted to contact a number they had obtained that supposedly belonged to Joshua.

“Someone answered the call. When I asked if he was Hilmi, he said yes, then no. We tried to trace the location of the phone but he hung up. When we tried calling again, there was no answer at all after that.”

She received an instruction in early October to classify Joshua as a wanted person. However, he was removed from the list after the case was classified as NFA.

She also said checks with the National Registration Department, Road Transport Department and the MCMC found that Joshua’s name, according to his MyKad, was Hilmi Hanim.

Ruth and Joshua, a Malay-Muslim who converted to Christianity, have been missing for over three years. They were last seen on Nov 30, 2016.