Paul Yong's rape case transferred to High Court

 

Former Perak exco Paul Yong Choo Kiong’s case of alleged rape of an Indonesian maid has been transferred to the High Court in Ipoh.

A three-member Federal Court bench today allowed the Tronoh assemblyperson’s appeal for the rape case to be transferred from the Ipoh Sessions Court to the High Court.

The unanimous ruling was delivered by the bench chaired by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat. The other members of the bench are Federal Court judges Mohd Zawawi Salleh and Mary Lim Thiam Suan.

It was reported that Yong’s case is on hold at the Sessions Court pending disposal of the appeal. 

It was reported that the alleged victim or key witness in the case had been kept waiting for a year and that the case is being monitored by both Malaysia and Indonesia.

On Aug 23 last year at the Sessions Court, former Perak housing, local government, public transport, non-muslim affairs and new villages committee chairperson Yong, claimed trial to raping the Indonesian maid.

The offence was allegedly committed at a house at Meru Desa Park, between 8.15pm and 9.15pm on July 7, 2019.

On Feb 10 this year, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, ruling that there was no appealable error by the High Court in dismissing Yong's transfer application. 

Yong then filed an appeal at the Federal Court against the Court of Appeal’s decision. 

Earlier during the proceedings, deputy public prosecutor K Mangai informed the Federal Court that the prosecution has instructions to not raise an objection against Yong’s appeal.

The DPP replied this when asked over the matter by Tengku Maimun.

Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat

The bench then issued the brief unanimous decision. However, no grounds were given during the oral decision.

“This is a unanimous decision. The appeal is allowed. The Court of Appeal decision is set aside.

“The case is to be transferred to the High Court. All dates at the Sessions Court are to be vacated,” Tengku Maimun ruled.

She also fixed Dec 21 for mention of Yong’s case at the Ipoh High Court.

When met after proceedings, Yong’s counsel Rajpal Singh explained that the Federal Court made the unanimous decision following the prosecution raising no objection to the appeal.

He said the defence had contended that the appeal should be allowed because both the defence and prosecution had initially agreed at the High Court stage for Yong’s case to be transferred to the High Court.

Rajpal said however that the High Court dismissed the transfer application and that the Court of Appeal had dismissed Yong’s appeal with a 2-1 majority.

The lawyer referred to the dissenting ruling of the Court of Appeal, which said that the High Court should have allowed the transfer when the prosecution has agreed to it, due to the adversarial system practiced by Malaysia’s criminal justice system. - Mkini