PUTRAJAYA – The case of former Perak state exco Paul Yong Choo Kiong, who is facing a charge of raping his Indonesian maid, will be heard at the Ipoh High Court.
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.
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 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 Tengku Maimun, who then fixed December 21 for case mention.
Earlier, deputy public prosecutor K. Mangai had 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 will 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.
Outside the court, Rajpal, who appeared with counsel Salim Bashir, said 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 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 a 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, December 15, 2020
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