Former Perak exco Paul Yong’s rape case to be tried at Ipoh High Court

PUTRAJAYA,  Dec 15 ― The case of former Perak state executive councillor (exco), Paul Yong Choo Kiong who is facing a charge of raping his Indonesian maid will be heard at the Ipoh High Court.

This was after a three-member panel of the Federal Court chaired by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat today, allowed Yong’s appeal for his case to be transferred from the Sessions Court to the High Court.

The trial in the Sessions Court has yet to commence pending the disposal of the transfer appeal.

Justice Tengku Maimun who sat with Federal Court judges Datuk Seri Mohd Zawawi Salleh and Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Suan, made the ruling after the panel had read the written submission filed by Yong's counsel, while there was no objection by the prosecution against Yong’s appeal.

“This is our unanimous decision as we find no error in this appeal. The appeal is allowed, the order of the Court of Appeal is set aside. The case is be transferred to the High Court,” said Justice Tengku Maimun who then fixed Dec 21 for the case to be mentioned at the High Court.

Earlier, deputy public prosecutor K. Mangai informed the panel that she was instructed to take the position not to object against Yong’s appeal.

Counsel Datuk Rajpal Singh, representing Yong, said the trial would begin in the High Court as both parties had come to “an agreement in the adversarial system” as raised in the dissenting judgment in a 2-1 majority decision by a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal.

On February 10, Court of Appeal judges Datuk Yaacob Md Sam and Datuk Seri Kamaludin Md Said dismissed Yong’s appeal on grounds that there was no appealable error by the High Court in rejecting his application to transfer the case to the High Court.

Justice Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang who dissented, however, said that in an adversarial criminal justice system, the court must respect the decision arrived by the defence and prosecution.

Outside the court, Rajpal who appeared with counsel Salim Bashir, told the media that the defence sought for the case to be tried at the High Court as it involved constitutional arguments, particularly pertaining to the Witness Protection Act 2009.

He said the defence would challenge the Witness Protection Act following the prosecution's application for two key witnesses to testify in-camera.

“This way, the defence team and the accused will have no access to the evidence as we cannot see the witnesses in person. We will raise this during the case mention at the High Court,” he said.

On November 26, last year, the Ipoh High Court  dismissed Yong's transfer application under Section 417 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Yong, 50, who is former Perak exco for housing and local government, public transport, non-Muslim affairs and new villages, pleaded not guilty at the Sessions Court in Ipoh to the charge of raping his 23-year-old Indonesian maid.

Yong, who is also Tronoh assemblyman, is accused of committing the offence at his house in Meru Desa Park on July 7, last year between 8.15pm and 9.15pm. ― Bernama