AN Indonesian domestic worker who accused former Tronoh assemblyman Paul Yong Choo Kiong of rape nearly six years ago, testified that she had withdrawn her allegations against him.
In a statement read by her lawyer in the Ipoh High Court she said she had made up the accusation so that she could go home before her contract ended.
Pathurrahman SH. MH, 58, an advocate based in Kabupaten Sumbawa of Indonesia said he drafted the statement on May 21, last year, a day after the maid approached him.
He told the court that she made the retraction through a statutory declaration affirmed in Indonesia.
The maid revealed that she was bound by a three-year agreement from May 7, 2019, to May 2022 but wanted to terminate it and return home but her employer refused, prompting her to accuse Yong of rape as an excuse to leave.
Pathurrahman read the statement before Justice Datuk Abdul Wahab Mohamed.
He was called as a witness by the defence team after the Federal Court, on Nov 12, last year, allowed Yong’s application to present additional evidence in his appeal.
In his witness statement, the lawyer, who has been practising since 1993, said the maid sought legal advice in his office on May 20, 2024.
He said she told him about her work as a maid and the false accusation against Yong.
Justice Abdul Wahab fixed March 7, to deliver his opinion which would be submitted to the Federal Court for the appeal hearing scheduled on March 17. – February 5, 2025
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