Greg Jenkins, son of the late Anna Jenkins, said there were obvious gaps in the police’s probe into his mother’s death.

“It’s quite evident from day one that we wouldn’t ever get justice for mum. The deputy public prosecutor, as well as the investigation officers, clearly stated that they didn’t investigate my mother’s case,” he told reporters after the verdict was delivered here.

“There were clear gaps in the investigation from day one, which came out during the coroner’s inquest. That is why we were quite shocked and disgusted that the coroner then turned around to say it was just an open verdict with so much misinformation.”

Parit Buntar-born Anna went missing in Penang while on a short holiday with her husband in December 2017. She was 65.

Her remains were found at a construction site in June 2020 near the racecourse at Scotland Road, 3km from where she was last seen alighting from an Uber ride.

Greg said his family has been “dragged through the mud” for the past six years and their reputation sullied through false testimony in court, especially after the police claimed that Anna was wanted for drug-related crimes in Australia and had also assumed that she was a victim of domestic violence.

However, South Australian police have cleared her of any crimes through a statement submitted to the coroner during the inquest.

Greg said that while the Jenkins family was hoping that the coroner would take note of these points and order a reinvestigation, it seemed that “they (police and coroner) just wanted this to go away.”

Greg, who said the Jenkins family had spent over A$400,000 (about RM1.2 million) to travel back and forth to Malaysia and personally investigate the case, stressed that they were not going to give up their fight for justice despite today’s verdict.

“We’re not going to stop, and we can’t stop. It’s not just about my mother anymore as well. This is what the Malaysian people have to deal with day in and day out.

“This is a system that’s so broken. We can’t let my mother become another statistic,” he said.

Jenkins family lawyer S Raveentharan said he would apply for a revision of the case pending further instructions from his client.

He said it was incredulous that Anna’s death certificate issued in June 2020 stated that her cause of death was “undetermined (skeletal remains)”, despite the coroner having not delivered a verdict.

Earlier today, coroner Norsalha Hamzah delivered an open verdict following an inquest into the disappearance and death of Australian national Anna.

Norsalha said a lack of evidence meant the court was unable to determine how Anna died and what could have caused her death.