Najib Rahim, 41, who is George Town’s criminal investigation department (CID) chief, said the claim, first made in an earlier proceeding of the inquest, was never noted in investigation papers.
“There was no record of drugs being mentioned in Jenkins’ diary in our investigation diary that was shown to me,” Najib replied when asked by Jenkins’ family lawyer Raveentharan Subramaniam.
In March, Zali Hanapi, the investigating officer in Jenkins’ case, claimed to have sighted her diary with an entry stating that she did not want to return to Australia because of drug-related cases there. This led to the family filing a report asking police to probe him for defamation.
Raveentharan asked Najib if the signature and seal of the investigating officer was on every page of the investigation diary, as required, to which, Najib said “no”. Najib agreed with Raveentharan that a signature and seal of the investigating officer was required on each written page.
Najib was then shown pictures of an area off Batu Gantong where human remains were found. He pointed out two places below a bluff and another near a partially built security checkpoint where the remains, later revealed to be that of Jenkins, were found.
To Raveentharan’s question as to what “undetermined” listed as Jenkins’ cause of death in her death certificate meant, Najib replied: “Undetermined usually means the cause of death is yet to be known.”
Yazid Mustaqim Roslan, who was assisting the coroner, stood up to ask how the Jenkins case was later classified as sudden death. Najib said when the bones were found on June 23, 2020 and DNA matching was carried out, the missing person’s case was effectively “closed” and “settled” as the person was considered dead.
“A sudden death report was made by police to finalise the cause of death of the person,” Najib said.
Raveentharan then asked Najib to describe how a case was classified as a missing person’s case. Najib said, based on experience, cases similar to that of Jenkins’ would be considered a missing person’s case once criminal elements were ruled out at the material time.
“I stress, at the material time, the murder element was not determined. But this question ought to be answered by the person in charge of this investigation, DSP Helmi Sulaiman, not me. I’m telling this court what is usually done in cases similar to that of Jenkins,” he said.
Najib said he assumed his role as CID chief on Sept 5, 2018 – which was after the incident had taken place.
Helmi was supposed to testify yesterday and today, but the coroner’s court was told he could not make it as he had to take care of his father, who was ill, in Johor.
Coroner Norsalha Hamzah then adjourned the inquest to Friday.