Journalist Ian Gerard McIntyre told the inquest Kew Kee Sing informed him that he decided to dig a hole near where the belongings were found – at a hill slope near the Turf Club here – and buried them in a blue plastic bag “for safety”.

McIntyre, a journalist with The Vibes, had interviewed Kew, also known as “Ah Boy”, in June 2020, shortly after the worker discovered the personal effects.

McIntyre said he got to know Kew through Jenkins’ son Greg. Kew had told Greg that he had found a missing person’s poster on Google, after searching for “Annapuranee Jenkins” and asked for the reward.

“Greg contacted me and asked me to meet Ah Boy, as, at that time, the country was in (Covid-19 pandemic) lockdown and Greg was in Australia.”

McIntyre said Kew then showed pictures of Jenkins’ belongings – such as a hotel key card, clothing and Australian coins – on his phone, and later took him to the site where he had buried the items for “safekeeping”.

“Ah Boy said the items had to be kept safe so that he could use them to redeem his reward and eventually buy a car for himself.

“I asked him if a police report was made. Ah Boy told me that a few policemen had gone to the site where the remains were found two to three weeks before he discovered the personal effects and that he was afraid to make a police report.”

McIntyre said he then called Northeast district police chief Soffian Santong to alert him about his meeting with Kew and offered to assist the police.

“Soffian said he would look into it.

“Then, after some time, Soffian brought the media to where the remains were found and held a press conference.”

McIntyre said Kew got his reward from Greg at a press conference a few weeks later.

Deputy public prosecutor Farah Aimy Zainul Anwar, who is assisting the coroner, then asked McIntyre why Greg had enlisted his help.

McIntyre said it could probably be because the portal had pursued the story aggressively.

S Raveentharan, who is holding a watching brief for the Jenkins family, then asked McIntyre if Kew was ever brought in for questioning, to which he replied in the affirmative.

Raveentharan then asked McIntyre if he was aware that the area where the personal effects were found was an affluent area, where land prices were almost RM8 million.

McIntyre declined to comment, saying he was not qualified as a land valuer.

Later, Raveentharan sought to admit a chronology of events involving the police and the Jenkins family while deputy public prosecutor Yazid Mustaqim Roslan asked the court for some time to go through the documents.

Coroner Norsalha Hamzah then ordered the court to be adjourned to 9am tomorrow to hear testimony from Greg. His mother mysteriously vanished while in Penang in 2017.