IPOH, April 7 — No signs of physical injuries or bruises found on an Indonesian maid, who was allegedly raped by Paul Yong, a medical officer told the High Court here.
Dr Kate Lynn Ignatius, 33, a medical officer from the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital, also said that the victim tested negative for pregnancy.
“From the physical examination, I did not find any injuries or bruises on the patient,” she reply to a question by Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Jamil Aripin, who asked what was the outcome of the physical examination.
“We have also carried out urine test on the victim for pregnancy, where the result was negative,” she added.
Dr Kate was testifying during the trial of Yong, who is accused of raping his Indonesian maid.
She also replied that physical examination finding alone is not sufficient to assert that the victim was raped.
She also said she referred the victim to the gynaecology specialist in the same hospital for further medical checks after completing the physical examination.
During the cross examination, Yong’s lawyer Salim Bashir asked whether Dr Kate knew that the victim’s menstrual had stopped for two months, to which she replied she did not know.
Dr Kate also said “I’m not sure” when Salim suggested to her that there were no bruises on the victim, as mentioned in her report, as there was no forceful sexual attack.
Meanwhile, Yong’s lead counsel Datuk Rajpal Singh pointed out to Dr Kate that she wrote in her report based on the victim’s claims that the victim was forcefully held by her employer and her clothes were removed unwillingly.
To this, Rajpal asked Dr Kate whether she agreed if the claim was true that many rape cases will have defensive wounds like abrasion or bruises, to which Dr Kate replied “not really”.
When asked whether the inner thighs were the common area likely to be injured in most of the rape cases, Dr Kate said “maybe”, however, she further explained that different cases has different scenarios thus different outcomes.
After the cross-examination, Jamil asked Dr Kate whether in her six years of experience as a medical officer had she found that every victim in rape cases have injuries or bruises, to which Dr Kate replied “not really”.
Dr Kate also said she had attended cases without bruises or injuries, but confirmed by the specialist doctors that the victims were raped.
Another witness who testified today was the former State Secretariat driver Mohd Ali Ahmad, 51, who was also Yong’s official driver when he was state executive councillor.
Mohd Ali told the court that the Indonesian maid asked him to send her to the Indonesian Embassy on July 8, 2019, a day after the alleged rape incident, when he arrived at Yong’s home to fetch him for an official event at around 8am.
However, Mohd Ali said he could not send her there because he was working.
Jamil asked Mohd Ali if he asked the Indonesian maid why she wanted to go to the embassy and how she reacted after he refused to send her there.
To this, Mohd Ali said that he did not ask her why she wanted to go to the embassy and he added that she carried on with her work after he refused to do so.
Jamil also asked Mohd Ali if he informed Yong on what his maid had asked him, to which Mohd Ali said he did not tell Yong about the incident.
The defence team did not cross-examine Mohd Ali.
The hearing will continue tomorrow at 10.15am.
On August 23, 2019, Yong, 50, a 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.
The Tronoh assemblyman was accused of committing the offence at his house in Meru Desa Park on July 7, 2019 between 8.15pm and 9.15pm.
