Judge Rofiah Mohamad said she would not rule on the matter today, as had been scheduled earlier, giving the prosecution until March 14 to obtain the written grounds.
She said she will deliver her verdict on April 28, regardless of whether the full written decision is supplied or otherwise.
The lawyer representing Anna’s family, David Peter, argued that the broad grounds of judgment, together with all the notes of evidence, had been given, and the court has the power to assess the case based on the existing evidence.
“The High Court shouldn’t delay the matter further because the inferior courts (in this case, the sessions court acting as the coroner’s court) are not doing their duty,” he said.
Peter said the High Court itself had spent considerable time trying to source the grounds, and if fresh grounds were to be issued now, it would create an unfair advantage as written submissions have been put in.
“The existing evidence and broad grounds are what the court needs to proceed,” he said.
Deputy public prosecutor Lee Jun Keong told the court they were not trying to stall the case but were acting on the instructions of the Attorney-General’s Chambers to obtain the full coroner’s grounds before proceeding.
“The prosecution requests that we get hold of the grounds, since what we have here is just one piece of paper. There were 30 witnesses called, and over 150 exhibits. We need to know how the coroner reached her verdict.
“We want justice to be served. We are only here to assist the court and have no intention to delay this case,” he said.
On May 12, 2023, coroner Norsalha Hamzah delivered an open verdict in the death of Parit Buntar-born Anna, indicating that the exact cause of death could not be determined. The family filed a lawsuit challenging the verdict on May 26 that same year.
The family is seeking a revision of the coroner’s open verdict under Section 323 of the Criminal Procedure Code,
Anna, who was on holiday in Penang in 2017, was reported missing after alighting near Scotland Road from an Uber ride. Her remains were found at a bungalow site in the area in 2020
Present in court today were her son Greg and Australian deputy high commissioner to Malaysia Simon Fellows.